To this, I added

On politics, Donges first explains that Merkel must insist on conditionality because Germany has a large number of bankrupt municipalities, and social services are being cut affecting the citizens, who cannot then understand that Germany is negotiating the size of large bailouts of other countries. He then says Merkel's hard image abroad 'doesn't fly' in Germany where people know 'she always gives in' (as in last June's summit where she was 'blackmailed by Hollande, Monti, and Rajoy'). Finally, in relation with the 'fiscal pact' or 'golden rule' Donges says he prefers the behaviour of Zapatero and Rajoy, who religiously implement agreements reached at the European level, to that of France.

On cuts to the social safety net, Donges argues that cuts to support for people with dependents "wouldn't have been done in Germany", but that he would have preferred (as Germany has done) to reduce the length of time but not the amount of unemployment subsidies which he calls "a perverse incentive" to not seek work until the subsidy runs out. This leads to a discussion of German reforms, and Donges concludes that the choice is between precarious employment and outright unemployment, and that there is no alternative.

People on twitter reacted to dogwhistles such as when he said men study cars in detail before buying them, like women study washing mashines. Also when he referred to people affected by social cuts as "collateral damage" "as in a war" they had no part in initiating.

To add, the "political reasons" for not bailing out the banks directly were explored in other segments of the programme, but not very explicitly. For instance, the situation of the German banking sector is discussed with the Germany correspondent of La Vanguardia. The German public's frustration over Hypo Real Estate and SOFFIN in 2008 is mentioned. though the name SOFFIN is never uttered (presumably because it would mean nothing to a Spanish audience), the figure of 300bn is given. I am reminded of a Spiegel story from 2008, The Bottomless Pit: Germany's Faltering Bank Bailout Program. The introduction of the debt brake in the Constitution in 2009 at the end of the latest Grand Coalition is also mentioned, though Donges paints it as the culmination of a decade of "reforms" started by Schröder (again, the Hartz reforms are discussed but not mentioned by name). The presence of 5,000 professional lobbyists at the Bundestag is also touched upon. This is a phenomenon that we know is common in Brussels, too, but it is mostly alien to the Spanish political culture which interprets lobbying as outright cronyism (not that it doesn't happen, but it is seen as corrupt and not done openly).

Overall, the programme was well worth watching in full.