The article below along with the cover page article in the Economist seems to suggest such maneuvering. Some might say the Economist article was a plant to give Merkel more power in the next round of meetings.
Top German politicians jump on the EU referendum bandwagon
Source: The Information DailyPublished Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 11:30
Top politicians across the political divide are calling for a referendum in Germany on the proposed Eurozone integration.
Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, from Merkel's own Christian-Democratic Union, was the first senior politician to float the idea publicly in June. Since then, many politicians from all parties including the opposition have called for holding a referendum to secure the German electorate’s view on further European integration.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is the latest senior politician who has endorsed the idea of a referendum on Europe and remains optimistic that the electorate will back more sharing of sovereignty. In fact Mr. Westerwelle believes that the entire EU electorate will back an European Constitution.
"I hope that we have a real European constitution and that there will also be a referendum on it," he told Bild, the German newspaper on Sunday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre right government believe the only long-term solution to the Eurozone economic crisis is more political and economic integration within the 17 member bloc.
Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of the opposition SDP has also backed Merkel’s proposed solution and has publicly endorsed the idea of a more politically and economically integrated Eurozone.
However, the German Constitutional Court has pointed out that the Constitution of the country would probably be stretched if there is any further integration within the Eurozone. The highest court in Germany is expected to rule on whether the European Stability Mechanism violates the Constitution next month.
Like other countries in Europe, the electorate in Germany is slowly but surely becoming anti-European and are not too keen on sharing more powers as well as taxpayers money with other Eurozone countries. In a recent poll, around 55% of Germans expressed their displeasure with euro and favoured the D. Mark as the national currency.
The politicians are all harping about holding a referendum but what happens if they do not get the response they seek? Usually, EU believes in asking the question again and again until they get the right answer. In this case, that would be difficult to do especially with an increasingly angry and worried electorate as well as the judges of the Constitutional Court.