»Ach Deutschland!« Greece, the Euro Crisis, and the Costs and Benefits of Being a Benign Hegemon MELANIE MORISSE-SCHILBACH Introduction In his»Ach Europa! – Wahrnehmungen aus sieben Ländern«(Enzens­berger 1987[1989]) the German author, poet and»good European«»par cœur« Hans Magnus Enzensberger published a series of investigative travelogues about seven European countries and their political cultures, including Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Poland, and Norway. Europe, so the idea went, is much easier to discover and to»feel« when approaching its soul from its periphery than from its power center. This is why he deliberately excluded Britain, Germany, and France from the series. For him, Europe is not about an office or an institution, or about power, all of which are symbolized by the»big three.« Europe, instead,»is the best place to be in the world. It has a much richer future than the codified languages of the treaties.« 1 Commenting on recent developments in Europe in 2010, he expresses his anger and disappointment:»Europe is a great achievement but they are messing it up.(…) it is anti-European because they antagonize people without any reason for doing so.(…) it is rolling back liberties which we have acquired.« Germany has become a major player in this gamble of»antagonizing« Europe, the Europe of ordinary people and political elites alike. The Greek quasi-bailout, the euro turmoil, and the current crisis management among the eu Member States all reveal that»messing up Europe« is nowadays a – intended? – consequence of German eu policy. 2 The current crisis of Europe is, for the most part, a crisis of Germany in Europe, the biggest(in terms of population and economic strength) and arguably most influential Member State within the eu . Thus, instead of sighing »Ach Europa!,« as the German journalist Christoph Schwennicke – 1. The Guardian(May 15, 2010). 2. See also Financial Times Online(May 10, 2010):»Germany pays for Merkel’s miscalculations«(Münchau). 26 Morisse-Schilbach, Costs and Benefits of a Benign Hegemon ipg 1/2011