RHETORIC WATCH : German Bashing

Was what Nicholas Ridley said about a united Germany in a recent magazine interview really all that terrible?

In his own oddball fashion, Britain’s minister for trade and industry was just agreeing with many analysts that in the new order of things that will follow the formal creation of the European Community in 1992, Germany will be the dominant force. Its currency already is the strongest in Europe. And many Europeans have deep-seated fears about a unified Germany. No new ground broken here.

But Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet minister could have gotten the idea across without likening the European Community to Adolf Hitler and wondering whether London might be better served if the Germans started bombing it again instead of trying to take over its economy.

Ridley has “unreservedly” withdrawn the remarks, with about the same effect as trying to withdraw an artillery shell after the lanyard is pulled. And because Thatcher’s own government is divided on European unification, he may keep his job.

But before she lets that happen, she needs to worry a little about Ridley’s runaway rhetoric. True, nothing Ridley said will make the new Germany less dominant, and nothing he can say now will make the new Germans less furious. Nothing anybody says will allow Britain to ignore the new Germany and go on about its business. But somehow Ridley made it all a little worse; perhaps now the British PM needs to make it a little better.