tagged: anti, criticism, debt, default, eu politics, euro bonds, euro zone, Euro-crisis, European Union, ex leaders declaration, Greece, Greek Crisis, new deal, yiannis varoufakis

IS this the EU we wanted? I don’t think so…

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy, Editor, Politics

The European road has its reached dead-end. Call it “Greek crisis”, call it “Euro crisis” the European leaders prove day in day out that they are not able to deal with this challenge. EU leaders live in their own happy-go-merry world with some aging EU-gentlemen ridiculte themselves by  claiming they are sexy. If that is all the European Council president has to say in public while millions of people in Europe slip in unprecedented poverty, then  it’s high time the EU leaders go all together in their back yards and hide.  The problem is partly Greek and partly European. However the gentlemen in Brussels fail to admit their failure and inability. If you don’t recognize the problem you can’t solve it.

 In Greece things go totally upside down. Citizens losing fundamental labour rights, see their incomes been cut at least by 40% while the country’s states assets are been sold out. “EU-supervisors”, so-called “Project Managers” or “Financial Jandarmas” are preparing their luggage and hold open return tickets to Greece. The bitter truth was officially admitted yesterday by Eurogroup Chief J-C Juncker : “Greece will suffer massive loss of sovereignty”.

In such a political and economic environment with the danger of a Greek default not averted yet, police and protesters clash in downtown Athens, and angry citizens openly threaten  and even attack governing party PASOK lawmakers who voted in favor of the Mid-Term Austerity Programme. Austerity is getting out of control with additional measures and tax hikes to be revealed day by day.

At the same time taxpayers in the rich EU-North fall victim of the mass media a grey propaganda targetting Greece.

Is this the Europe we wanted? A Europe that divides the nations instead of unite them? To tell you the sincere answer from the deep of my heart… “NO!, It’s not!”

And I know (thank God) I am not alone. Renowned economists, journalists and politicians urge for a political solution within the European Union; their voices are getting more frequent and louder.  Ex-Eurozone leaders like Giuliano Amato, Guy Verhofstadt, Michel  Rocard and Mario Soares published over the weekend a joint declaration calling for radical and quick solutions. Here is the interesting background of this declaration, as stated by Yiannis Varoufakis, Greek economy professor, who gained worldwide reputation through his Modest Proposal:

”Europe’s most serious deficit is political. A dearth of political will, democratic legitimacy and purposeful, farsighted leadership is responsible for the Eurozone’s repeated failures to get to grip with the Crisis’ different manifestations.

Proposals like that our own Modest Proposal, of Tremonti-Yuncker and others offered Europe obvious alternatives to the current policy mix which exacerbates the Crisis and causes permanent damage to Europe, its economy, its society and, primarily, its prospects of a democratic common future.

A familiar refrain amongst commentators and the public at large is that Europe’s current crop of leaders are missing the qualities and clarity of vision of the political leaders who shaped the European Agenda in decades past. It is for this reason that we decided to ask some of them to express their support for the basic tenets of the Modest Proposal: By signing the Declaration below, these former Heads of State, Prime Ministers and European Parliamentary leaders will hopefully send a loud and clear message to our current leaders: It is time to stop dithering, to desist from pretending that this is a Greek Crisis, and to withdraw from the catastrophic trap of treating the problem as one that can be cured by means of the mix of loans plus liquidity.

Once the Declaration below was drafted, and support for it was declared, Stuart Holland and myself approached the Financial Times and Der Spiegel who graciously agreed to relate this Declaration to their readers on the same day, Monday 4th July 2011. Meanwhile, the Declaration is being published, at the same time, in Greece by protagon.gr, the site where our Modest Proposal first saw the light of day fully fledged.

We trust and hope this Declaration will help steer the debate away from the aridity of the current agenda and onto a rich new vein of innovative ideas for dealing rationally and collectively with the Eurozone’s systemic Crisis.”

Read the whole article HERE