As German Finance minister under Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009, Peer Steinbrueck was known as much for his blunt speech as for his pragmatic policies (such as not wanting to expand social welfare). Both aspects of the 63-year-old Northern German are amply on display in Unterm Strich (“Bottom Line”), his new book discussing Germany’s and Europe’s economic predicament in the wider world.

He criticizes Germany’s undercapitalized banks and poor political leadership — including that of his own Social Democratic party.

Europe, with its mounting debt, he says, is on the brink. “Greece was just a foretaste of what could happen to the Euro idea,” he warns.

Inevitably, Steinbrueck takes on the finance industry. “We have taken a few steps toward taming the financial markets,” he told a Der Spiegel interviewer after his book came out, “but we have not come nearly far enough to rule out a repetition of the crisis. The most important question hasn’t been answered yet: Who’s in charge, politicians or the financial industry?”

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