ABSTRACT
The current Euro-crisis is the most severe crisis the European Union (EU) has faced since
its inception. Despite its overwhelming scale and urgency, EU political and financial
leaders have struggled to find an answer to the problems. Several observers have traced
this inability back to the divide between states adhering to Ordoliberal and those
advocating Keynesian policies, Germany and France in particular (Van Esch 2012; Blyth
2013; Hall 2012; Krotz and Schild 2012; Segers and Van Esch 2007). As the criticism of
Merkel’s reticent Ordoliberal response and the clashes between German central bankers
and their peers at the European Central Bank (ECB) suggest, the divide seemed especially
detrimental at the level of French and German political and financial leaders. In their
position of top national representatives in the European Council and the ECB, they played
a key and highly contested role in the decision-making surrounding the Euro-crisis.
