Schadenfreude reigns as Berlin pays the price of its tough line on debt  – POLITICO

BRUSSELS — Germany has long been the European Union’s penny pincher par excellence — a paragon of fiscal rectitude in contrast to its spendthrift neighbors. But now its insistence on balancing the books is coming back to bite. 

To some surprise, Germany missed an Oct. 15 deadline to submit a multi-year spending plan to the European Commission as officials in Berlin scramble to put together a budget that complies with recently introduced European spending rules. It is now considering asking the Commission for permission to spread out planned spending cuts over seven years, rather than four as initially intended.

“It’s karma, no?” said a European official who played a key role in negotiating the updated fiscal rules — the same ones Berlin pushed to make as stringent as possible.