Emmanuel Macron made a revealing comment on the sidelines of the recent Western Balkan summit in Berlin last month. The French president said: “The German growth model has perhaps run its course”. I think this is quite an extraordinary statement coming from a French president. It shows that he must have reflected on this issue for quite some time. And it shows that thegreat love affair with Germany is over. We are clearly entering a different phase in the Franco-German relationship.
The demise of the German growth model would not be necessarily a calamity. If all goes well, the slow erosion of German uber-competitiveness could even be the fortuitous accident that triggers economic convergence in the eurozone. But on a continent where not everything goes well all of the time, it could pan out rather differently.
The German model has two interacting components — technological and macroeconomic. Germany is benefiting from the great inventions of the past, and managed to maintain market leadership in many specialised engineering disciplines. It has been a successful industrial strategy for a long time. Germany supported its model with an elaborate infrastructure: from skills-based, technical training to high-tech, applied research institutes, and industry-friendly government policies. Do not think for a minute that the lack of a speed limit on autobahns is simply a voter preference.