Merkel's European sacrifice

"Do I look like a victim?" asked European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at one point in the middle of his press conference. A journalist had expressed the accusation that Juncker is letting his politics be dictated by European Union member states. Juncker's answer? An emphatic "no."

He really did not look like a victim.The savvy EU veteran switched between German, French, and English on the Brussels stage before the assembled press. The way in which he constructed this new European Commission is the work of an old fox, who knows all the political games in the EU and avoids kicking member states in the shins if at all possible.

Foxes guarding the hen house?

Example 1: Jonathan Hill is responsible for finances as future commissioner. Hill comes from the United Kingdom; in other words, the land that always has fought against the regulation of its financial markets.

Example 2: Pierre Moscovici did not always impress during his stint as French finance minister as far as his austerity policies were concerned. As both conservative and liberal European politicians enjoy mentioning again and again, France has never once fulfilled the Maastricht criteria of holding down new debt below three percent of gross domestic product.

Is Juncker now letting the foxes guard the hen house? Or is it a peace offering to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who wanted to prevent Juncker from becoming EU Commission President? Surely. And does Juncker not want to further humiliate the embattled French President Francois Hollande by granting him his desired candidate and appointing Moscovici for the areas of economics and finance? That, too.

Austerity hardliners at the hub

But Juncker can make these appointments to apparently important commission posts because neither Hill nor Moscovici can operate unhindered in their departments. They will have bosses. The wily Luxembourger's new structure will pull in six vice-presidents besides the foreign policy chief. These will all come from small EU countires: The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia, Latvia and Finland. This means that two conservative austerity hardliners will sit at the most important hub for economic and financial policy: the Finn Jyrki Katainen and the Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis.

Whoever claims the Germans are the supposed losers in this commission because Günter Oettinger did not receive a position as vice-president, but instead only a previously low-profile digital department, is overlooking the shadow of the German chancellor, which can be seen behind Dombrovskis and Katainen. It is quite conceivable that she agreed to both without discussion in a quiet back room. Not only on account of their similar beliefs on fiscal policy, but also because it is Merkel's style not to place the powerful Germany too much in the foreground.This way she avoids further resentment in other European capitals. Now, France and the United Kingdom have the posts that they wanted, the representatives of smaller countries have a large responsibility, and Merkel will probably get the economic and fiscal policy that she wants. Ask yourself, who is really the victim?