BERLIN – Solemn, serious rejection for Angela Merkel. It does not come from the countries of Mediterranean Europe, nor from Linke, nor from the left wing of the French Socialist Party. And not even from the Obama administration and the International Monetary Fund. No, a harsh judgment on the economic and budgetary policy of the large Koalition led by the “most powerful woman in the world” is pronounced by the Cinque Saggi, the maximum German economic and financial analysis and consultancy body of the executive, in their usual annual report. public this morning. In the first hot reaction, Angela Merkel immediately rejected the criticisms: the problems of the German economy are due to international factors, not to government decisions, her spokesmen say.

The 400-page document essentially reproaches the Chancellor and her government for taking too many decisions that increase spending and can make the labor market more rigid and less flexible, rather than trusting the market more. And with the slowdown of the economic situation, the danger of the new expenditure items, especially related to welfare, appear even more dangerous. The Sages in fact heavily lower their growth forecasts for the gross domestic product of the first European economy, from 1.9 to a paltry 1.2 percent this year, and by just 1 percent (barring internal unforeseen or international) for 2015, thus less than the 1.3% forecast by the executive.

Implicitly, the Wirtschaftsweisenthey accuse Angela Merkel and her government of preaching well but scratching badly. Because they reject measures to increase spending such as the guaranteed pension for mothers, the possibility of retiring at age 63, and the guaranteed minimum wage, as an easy execution of comfortable electoral promises, which will lead to an increase in public spending which, with the cooling of the conjuncture precisely, and therefore with the prospect of less tax revenue, it will be felt more markedly. The underlying argument: Germany with this broad-based welfare policy at home also gives a bad example and loses credibility with European partners. Because she, the hegemonic power and aspiring leader of the Eurozone and of the whole EU, first recommends to all the other members of the club the single currency and the Union in general painful reforms, cuts in public spending, deregulation, privatization and so on. And then at home he does the opposite. We will see how the judgment of the Five Wise Men will weigh on the German domestic political climate, on the markets, and on the relationship between Berlin and European partners. It really is not certain that the easy (and even a bit arrogant) hot denial of the chancellor convinces everyone.