Merkel and Hollande spell out Greek fear … The leaders of France and Germany on Tuesday joined forces to urge Greece to reaffirm its commitment to membership of the eurozone, after François Hollande flew to Berlin for talks with Angela Merkel, German chancellor, within hours of being installed as French president … "We want Greece to stay in the euro," Ms Merkel said. "We know that the majority of people in Greece see that." Ms Merkel defended her belief that the common currency was "not just a monetary project, but a political project". It meant that the member states of the eurozone shared a common responsibility. "People who have a common currency will never fight a war against each other," she said. – UK Telegraph

Dominant Social Theme: The more we have in common the less we shall fight.

Free-Market Analysis: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just made an astounding statement. In a press conference with new president Francoise Hollande, she said, "People who have a common currency will never fight a war against each other."

For a person at the heights of power to make such a ludicrous remark indicates either an abysmal ignorance or a deliberate misstatement. We would have to believe the latter as we cannot conceive that Merkel knows so little about history.

She has never heard of the American Civil War? Or the French Revolution? She is not aware of the Russian Revolution or Mao's Long March? How about North and South Korea? Or North and South Vietnam?

Now, it is true that many of these conflicts may have been in a sense elite manipulations. But they exist nonetheless. Currency actually matters little. History shows that those who share the same currency are certainly able to be bellicose to each other.

But Madame Merkel is not interested in historical veracity, obviously. She is interested in scoring points. It is an outright admission that there is no real justification for this staggering junk pile of a confederation called the European Union.

Once upon a time, perhaps, it WAS justified. The idea of trade union to make the passage of goods more efficient was surely a good idea.

But that was long ago. Today, Merkel has to justify the idea of an overarching political, economic and cultural union. There is neither precedent nor rationale for such a thing. Nonetheless, she is committed to it. So is Hollande. Here's some more from the article:

"We will make it clear that we want Greece to remain in the eurozone, and that is what the citizens are voting on." That meant fulfilling the commitments in the EU and IMF programme, she said, but added: "We will also give proposals to Greece to encourage growth."

Mr Hollande went further, saying that "I hope that we can say to the Greeks that Europe is ready to add measures to help growth and support economic activity, so that there is a return to growth in Greece."

Both leaders pledged to maintain the intimate Franco-German partnership with celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Elysée treaty which launched their special relationship.

They glossed over their political differences which saw Ms Merkel openly backing Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative incumbent, against Mr Hollande, his socialist challenger in the French presidential election. Mr Hollande said political rivalry had not undermined the relationship in the past, but he stuck to his constant theme in his election campaign that Europe had to focus on reviving economic growth, as well as reducing public debt and budget deficits, which Ms Merkel insists is a "precondition for sustainable growth".

Pressed on the question of whether he was determined to renegotiate the German-inspired "fiscal pact" intended to reinforce budget discipline throughout the eurozone, Mr Hollande said he wanted the concept of growth not merely mentioned, but really "pronounced" in the treaty.

Merkel is out of ideas when it comes to justifying the expanding grasp of the Eurozone. She wants people to believe that using a similar money precludes violence.

Both she and Hollande are ALSO out of ideas when it comes to "rescuing" the European Union as it now stands. Hollande's idea is to "increase growth." This plainly means he wants to get the printing presses rolling.

But the Germans have given Merkel every reason to believe that they won't stand for further integration with "Europe" – especially if they have to pay for it.

Revving up monetary inflation in Europe is currently illegal under various treaties. And it is not France that will pay for this sort of money printing.

This is the crux issue of Europe today. Merkel likely has no answers for it, as she keeps losing elections. In fact, the only answer she's been able to come up with that is politically palatable is "austerity."

The statement that Merkel just made about money is entirely disingenuous and shows how un-rooted in reality the EU really is at this point.

Merkel is willing to make up her own history. But just because she says something is true doesn't make it so. Both she and Hollande can insist that the solution to the Euro-crisis is growth.

This is because both are committed to the EU, as is the larger power elite that sees it as an important part of a move toward world governance.

But saying something doesn't make it so. There is a good deal of anti-EU sentiment in Germany currently. Merkel is not likely going to be able to "talk" it away. And neither is Hollande.