EURO-LALALAND
TEETERING ON THE BRINK
In Euro-speak, "decision day" means that the day to put off a decision has
come, and the exercise can be repeated indefinitely, as witnesses to the last 8
"EU" summits can testify. No matter how urgent the issue, and how precariously
close to the abyss the bloc drifts, nothing seems to spur "EU" laggards (for a
more accurate word than 'leaders') into action. It haunts the "EU" today that
for many years, people with the "charisma of a damp rag and the posture of a
bottom-grade bank clerk" who have been admonished and eagerly whisked out of
their country of origin, have been unduly elevated to positions of seniority in
the "EU" - where demands of intellect, integrity and decency at home are
replaced with readiness to defraud, mismanage, corrupt and indulge in nepotism,
deceit and procrastination.
Now, in November 2012, we are no closer of tackling, let alone resolving,
the crippling financial crisis that has emerged already 4 years ago. GREECE has
been bankrupt for 2 years, yet the "EU" keeps siphoning taxpayers' funds and
delusional credit to the moribund nation. With irrational expositions of
principles, the eurozone manifestly refuses to throw out Greece for fear it
would trigger a mass exit of nations that should have never joined, and have
never been qualified under the rules of eurozone treaties. Instead, we hear the
daily threats from the "EU" and ECB elders, that European taxpayers will foot
the bill of "whatever it takes." What started out as a $150 billion problem in
2008 has grown into a self-declared readiness to shed up to $1.6 Trillion to
prolong the eurozone debacle.
Greece already in the deep end, Italy fast falling, Portugal & Spain doomed
Even staring over the cliff, the "EU" quacks buck obstinately to show
leadership for once. Instead they raise idle petty issues, such as bemoaning the
justified rebate to Britain. The idea in Brussels, Berlin, Rome and Paris is to
portray Britain as the villain of the "EU" and inflate the island nation as an
external threat to "us."
At the same time as Germany's Merkel serenaded her olive twig song in
Downing Street, she also sanctioned French-Italian efforts to strip Britain of
the annual rebate of £2.2 billion (already cut under Labour from £3.7bn). It
will not work, as Britain has veto power, and the veto threatens plans by some
to create a banking union which would severely impair economies outside this
envisaged union.
Two neighbouring words from German dictionary which describe "EU" denial
As the days of decision come and go in the self-castrated "EU," the Day of
Reckoning approaches fast. Greece is in a suffocating stranglehold thanks to the
"EU" yet even more austerity has been pushed through parliament on the direction
of Brussels and Berlin, the usual threats included. After a few hours of feigned
relief, first voices of pending doom arise. The German finance minister declared
today that it is "highly unlikely" that an urgently needed next tranche of
European taxpayers' funds will be transferred to Athens next week. Even with the
$244 billion already received in the past 18 months, Greece runs out of public
funds on November 15th and is in real danger to default on a $6.3 billion loan
repayment. I wonder how this will pan out next week...
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