Even with
its current malaise, Germany invested in 2001 $43 billion abroad and
attracted $32 billion in fresh foreign capital.
Indeed, supporting the United States was seen by the smaller countries
of the EU as a neat way to counterbalance Germany's worrisome economic
might and France's often self-delusional aspirations at helmsmanship. A
string of unilateral dictates by the French-German duo to the rest of
the EU - regarding farm subsidies and Europe's constitution, for
instance - made EU veterans and newcomers alike edgy. Hence the
deliberate public snub.
Still, grandstanding apart, the nations of central Europe know how
ill-informed are recent claims in various American media that their
region is bound to become the new European locomotive in lieu of an
aging and self preoccupied Germany. The harsh truth is that there is no
central European economy without Germany. And, at this stage, there is
no east European economy, period.
Consider central Europe's most advanced post-communist economy.
One third of Hungary's GDP, one half of its industrial production,
three quarters of industrial sales and nine tenths of its exports are
generated by multinationals. Three quarters of the industrial sector is
foreign-owned. One third of all foreign direct investment is German.
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