The EU, of which the Germans are most influential, is working the financial arm of the EU about the same way that the feds are working the regulation of our banks.
Think about it. They are requiring sovereign countries that they must write their budget on terms that the EU approves and submit them to the EU for approval.
They are setting other conditions. That is very similar to the way the feds force US banks to conform.
At has long been recognized that he who writes the checks writes the rules.
EU member countries voluntarily surrendered their sovereignty -- their financial sovereignty at least -- when they became members of the common market and adopted the Euro as their currency.