The Bad Weather Coalition, more formally known as the New Hanseatic League, is a group of EU member states Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, which are all “fiscally conservative northern European states”. The original Hanseatic league very much included cities like Hamburg, Bremen, Rostock, Stettin (now Szczecin) and Danzig (now Gdańsk). Based on the name and the political aims, I would expect Germany to be part of the club. Why isn't it? Was Germany not invited (perhaps the founders wanted to remain a club of smaller nations), or does Germany not want to be in the Bad Weather Coalition?
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5@Sjoerd I don't know if it's derogatory, I find it funny :)– gerritNov 30, 2018 at 15:27
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2I don't know why it's called the New Hanseatic League, but presumably the analogy is that it's an alliance of small states to counteract the powerful centrist forces of larger and more powerful neighbours. Inviting Germany to join would then make about as much sense as inviting Prussia to join the original Hanseatic League: that is to say, it would defeat the entire purpose.– Michael KayNov 30, 2018 at 22:10
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3I'm surprised anybody would call high tax, large public sector countries "fiscally conservative".– janhDec 1, 2018 at 5:27
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3@hkBst It certainly has a broader meaning than that (low ratio of govt budget vs gpd, low taxes etc), but even with that meaning, it's hard to unify Ireland (70% of gdp) and Estonia (8%) as both being "fiscally conservative" ;)– janhDec 2, 2018 at 19:11
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3An analysis of the economic and political differences between northern and southern Europe are far too complicated to be resolved in a set of comments.– gerritDec 3, 2018 at 15:06
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1 Answer
Many decision in the EU are pre-arranged by the German-French axis, which in practice means that the smaller countries don't have much influence.
The New Hanseatic League aims to give the smaller countries with similar views more influence. Therefore, it is a counter-balance against the German-French axis.
It would be strange if Germany were on both sides.
An advantage for Germany for not being in this group, is that they can be the negotiator-in-the-middle, while the New Hanseatic League is free to voice concerns shared by Germany.
I think that both the New Hanseatic League and Germany are happy with this arrangement, so there is no reason for them to join.
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