What it means is German control over other countries budgets. What that means is semi-permanent austerity. What that means is semi-permanent depression.
I somehow doubt that this will be accomplished, if it is accomplished, through referenda. I doubt any major party will stand against it. So, to add to the blindingly obvious, it is blindingly obviously undemocratic.
It is true that the Euro requires fiscal union. It always did, shared currencies don’t work without union. However, if fiscal union is to occur, then it should occur with each member state’s population voting for it, especially as this fiscal union’s purpose is to impose corporate friendly austerity measure’s on the populations of countries that would almost certainly vote against them.
I will note that this is not going to redound to Germany’s favor in the not-very long run. Permanent European depression is not to Germany’s advantage. Who, exactly, they think is going to buy their high-end goods is beyond me. They shouldn’t expect India and China to play along, those countries are creating their own auto industries and do not intend to be dumping grounds for Western goods.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s words are applicable:
The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
The states in Europe are controlled by private interests. We have seen this, clearly, in Greece and Italy in the past weeks. If this fiscal union passes, the Rubicon will have been crossed for all states remaining in the Euro. Ironically, Europeans will have given up real democracy in exchange for depression. Lose/lose.
For them.