[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jonbxx

Direct answer - yes.
[SEPH]: At last. You're the first to answer YES to my question: "Do you want the UK to be part of that [German hegemony]?" Note that everybody: to my surprise, jonbxx wants the UK to be under the influence of German hegemony.

More detailed answer, how will leaving fix the problem? With the uk leaving, the strength of Germany in the EU will be higher. I fail to see how leaving will make any improvement to this situation. Also, whether we are in or out, this is a Eurozone issue, not an EU one and we were never going to join the Euro.
[SEPH]: Leaving doesn't fix the "problem" of German hegemony. It just leaves the other 27 to stew in that juice. Why on earth should we be helping to fix a problem that cannot be fixed? You say it's a Eurozone problem; of course it's not. The German domination is total, across all 27 countries - they don't just export to the Eurozone members. And what is the "improvement to the situation" that you mentioned? Unpicking German hegemony? By the UK staying in the EU? Oh please.

What is driving the trade imbalance? There are two issues I can see - one driven by the government and one driven by the employment situation. Yes, the government could spend more on infrastructure and outsource some of this externally but that’s a political as well as economic decision. The second was the slow wage growth in Germany despite strong union representation on company boards. As unemployment is dropping in Germany, there appears to be an upturn in wage growth which will go some way to fix the problem.
[SEPH]: How will an upturn in wage growth fix the problem of German hegemony? That is naïve. Deutschland Ueber Alles is in their blood, one way or another. I'm very disappointed that you want to be a member of the ultimate United States of Germany.

Btw, you did read that Merkel is trying to get a German to be the successor to Juncker; yes? It's a pity that I can't rest my case there!