Why BasePrice dependency?

[Vinai]

Why is IntegerNet_GermanStoreConfig dependent on DerModPro_BasePrice?

If a store doesn't need the BasePrice extension, why not allow it to be deactivated? This feels a lot like extension bloat.
It would be better to keep every module as decoupled as possible, even if modules can be deactivated via system config options. The fewer modules are initialized during the Magento application initialization the better.