Germans have been living in a dream

Germans have been living in a dream

The Economist,

"Their energy policy has been a fantasy."

The story is old and takes many forms. A fairy-tale version, recorded two centuries ago by the Brothers Grimm, tells of a certain Karl Katz, a goatherd in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. One night a straying goat leads Katz deep into a cave. Tempted by strange men, he drinks a potion and falls asleep. On waking he finds that not hours, but years have passed. The world around him has changed.

The bewilderment felt by Katz is now shared by many Germans. Some years ago Europe's richest country slipped into a state not quite of slumber, but of sleep-walking. Newly reunited and lulled by their own economic and diplomatic success, Germans settled into a comfortable belief that their system was working near-perfectly. Governmental policies came to be guided less by pragmatism than by self-deception, as leaders plied voters with intoxicating talk of perpetual prosperity with minimal friction and, of course, zero emissions.

Source:

(*) https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/07/21/germans-have-been-living-in-a-dream