Posted on 10/27/2011 9:32:02 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The leaders of the Eurozone have reduced Greece’s debt and increased the amount of EU aid. However, for Eleftherotypia, which notes on its front page that “German tanks are in the bailout,” the decision will put the Greeks and all Europeans under the heel of Berlin.
Buoyed by a Bundestag vote in which she secured the support of 80% of Germany’s MPs, Angela Merkel went on to attend the Brussels summit to find a solution to the Greek problem.
However, the decision taken by the summit had already been announced, almost point by point, by the Chancellor before the German parliament. Apparently, she did not even take into account the views expressed by other European leaders. It is as though there were no other players in Europe.
Of course, everyone knows that Germany is the strongest player. Everyone knows that its opinion has more weight than the others. But it cannot always have the last word. Because in politics, you cannot apply the same rules as in football: otherwise we will arrive at a situation where “in the end, Germany always wins,” as one former English footballer put it.
Merkel does as she pleases
The way things are going now, politics and football have switched sides in this dichotomy: because in football, Germany often loses, whereas in Europe, they always succeed in imposing their opinion. And in so doing, they have not met with any opposition.
Even the French president has been roundly criticised by his national press for supporting the German position. Other leaders, like Luxembourg’s Prime Minster Jean Claude Juncker, have voiced concern over Germany’s hegemony.
However, none of this has served any purpose. Chancellor Merkel does as she pleases. With regard to Greece, she has imposed a solution that entails a 50% devaluation of sovereign debt, and far-reaching structural reforms including a number of key austerity measures.
No positive future
This is what has been exchanged for the gift of restructuring. Even if Merkel says that she has “respect” for the sacrifices accepted by the Greeks, it will not change the reality of austerity for Greece, or other countries that are in now trouble – and these include Italy, even if Berlusconi has been shy to admit it.
Greece, like every other country in the eurozone, is now at the mercy of Germany. When major decisions are under discussion, and, at the end of the day, they are imposed by a single country that is determined not to give in no matter what the consequences, the others are necessarily obliged to back down.
If the situation continues with no other country being allowed to express its point of view, there will be no positive future in Europe especially for small countries, which are the weak links in the chain.
Socialist lazy parasites whining about hard workers up north.
This will not last 1 year...this detente.
Europe will splinter politically and monetarily...possibly creating new countries, regions and alliances of the strangest sort.
Or, if you read history...predictable sort.
Note to Grease,
Nobody forced you to spend all dat $.
Maybe someone learned in Greek can translate this:
“Don`t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Germany's elites don't seem too willing to let go of that "ball and chain"; rather, they seem very interested in binding it closer to it. That goes against the will of the German people, FTR.
What Greece sees as hegemony, Germany sees as a ball and chain
Now that the elites have their empire, they won't let it just splinter. It may fracture, but the core of it will remain strong; after all, this is the very "beneficial crisis" they wanted when the euro was first started.
Europe will splinter politically and monetarily...possibly creating new countries, regions and alliances of the strangest sort
The European Commission's top economists warned the politicians in the 1990s that the euro might not survive a crisis, at least in its current form. There is no EU treasury or debt union to back it up. The one-size-fits-all regime of interest rates caters badly to the different needs of Club Med and the German bloc.Take notice that all sorts of taboos have already been broken, and all the talk is in favor of that very "full-fledged EU economic government". Watch for more taboos to go by the wayside.
The euro fathers did not dispute this. But they saw EMU as an instrument to force the pace of political union. They welcomed the idea of a "beneficial crisis". As ex-Commission chief Romano Prodi remarked, it would allow Brussels to break taboos and accelerate the move to a full-fledged EU economic government.
Is anybody here learning the lesson from Greece?
Too much Debt is a killer!
“summit to find a solution to the Greek problem”
Somewhere I read this story before. It might not end well for Greeks.
A good, indepth analysis of the article. After reading it, I'll have to reread the article to see what I missed - I just KNOW there must to be some complaint, somewhere, about those hard workers in germany.
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
“What Greece sees as hegemony, Germany sees as a ball and chain.”
Well said. The Germans will be lucky to get back half of the money they lent to these dingalings.
Once all the Germans were warlike, and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then
The Greeks still retire at 52 years of age but cannot understand why the rest of the world just doesn’t give them more money.
After all - they can’t figure out anything to do on their own that would help.
They are no different than the Socialist moochers parading all over America bitterly complaining that someone else has more than they do.
Greece, like every other country in the eurozone, is now and always has been at the mercy of GREECE.
They can continue their extravagent spending or spend less. They can pay off their debts or not pay them off. Germany is only involved because Greece NEEDS them to be involved for their own purposes.
Time to impose reparations?
We saw how well that went after WW1.
Greece is at the mercy of it’s own public employee unions and left-wing government. Blaming the people you need to beg to rescue you from your own irresponsibility is very unappealing.
They've said some very interesting things over the years, though.
Once all the Germans were warlike, and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then
If European integration were not to progress, Germany might be called upon, or tempted by its own security constraints, to try to effect the stabilization on its own and in the traditional way.This is from a position paper written back in 1994 by Wolfgang Schäuble (everybody knows Germany's current financial minister by now) and Karl Lamers (president of NATO Parliamentary Assembly and deputy chairman of the Bundestag's Defense Committee). That's the kind of attitude that Germany's elites have towards the EU—it's theirs, and don't you dare try to take it away from them.
Does anyone who has given this matter a lot of thought have any opinions one way or the other about the impact these events will have, or should have, on our willingness to fund the Europeans’ financial woes through the IMF, and to fund their defense with 40,000 troops and tons of money we don’t have?
Now imagine that Greece controlled the entire Euro military and the power to levy at the threat of confiscation, what do you have?
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