Arrogant, narrow-minded, superficial, full of low-level stereotypes, bias and hypocrisy… For one more time the leadership of the European Union exposed that what it seems a benevolent I-love-bella-Italia -attitude is nothing more than a deep rooted prejudice attitude of Central and North Europe towards the people of the European South. European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Thursday, Italians need to work harder, be less corrupt and stop looking to the EU to rescue the country’s poor regions.
Days after the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, defended Italy’s place in the eurozone against the country’s populist leaders, the president of the European commission said he was in “deep love” with “bella Italia”, but could not accept that all the country’s problems should be blamed on the EU or the commission.
Italians have to take care of the poor regions of Italy. That means more work; less corruption; seriousness,” Juncker said according to the Guardian. “We will help them as we always did. But don’t play this game of loading with responsibility the EU. A country is a country, a nation is a nation. Countries first, Europe second.”
After making the remarks during a question and answer session in Brussels, Juncker added it would be best to be “silent and prudent and cautious” this week, whenever he was asked about Italy. “I have full confidence in the genius of the Italian people,” he said.
Juncker’s statements met the anger of the ‘genius Italian people’ and it was first the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani who urged the EC President:
I ask European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to immediately deny the comments attributed to him, because if they are true they would be unacceptable.”
Chiedo al Presidente della Commissione europea Jean Claude Juncker di smentire immediatamente le frasi che gli vengono attribuite, perché se fossero vere sarebbero inaccettabili
— Antonio Tajani (@Antonio_Tajani) May 31, 2018
Hours later, EC deputy spokeswoman Mina Andreeva claimed that Jucnker’s statements were taken out of context and tried to fix the unfixable – because everybody knows how Juncker talks when he speaks casually.
Clarification @JunckerEU #Italy. pic.twitter.com/S7vY2j3bSQ
— Mina Andreeva (@Mina_Andreeva) May 31, 2018
EU officials have deleted footage of a Q&A session Jean-Claude Juncker did today, in which he said Italians should do 'more work' and that 'Russia bashing has to be brought to an end', from their in-house video service. They're now saying the remarks were taken 'out of context'. pic.twitter.com/OFHbv27mVk
— Nick Gutteridge (@nick_gutteridge) May 31, 2018
Is this the European leadership’s strategy to beat populism and fight EU-skepticism?
We, Greeks, have been there, have seen that have heard this from 2009 to begin of 2018. that’s a damn lots of years. And especially by Juncker who claims to be a happy-go-lucky friend of Greece, when it was him who helped enforcing the third bailout and then pretended it wasn’t him, thinking Greeks have the memory of a gold fish.
PS Meanwhile, Spaniards ousted Juncker’s ideological buddy Mariano Rajoy over major corruption scandal that affected the whole Spanish christian-democrat ruling party.
This is par for the course from our Northern neighbors. They cherish the Southern European lifestyle (they flock there like lemmings every summer), but scorn the people who live in Southern Europe. You have a feeling that for people like them, the South would be great if no one actually lived there (or if the local wage slaves just invisibly served their Northern betters without having too many demands). We’re all lazy and corrupt according to Juncker and drunken womanizers according to Diesel-Bomb. Bella Italia indeed.
I feel so sad, seeing this now.
Exactly 3 years ago, the Greeks, were going through the same humiliation process from the German “4th Reich”. It’s unbelievable how many lies they wrote and said about them, just like they do now about us. In the end, along with the IMF and the international banksters, they managed to take your wealth and your natural resources, turning you into working slaves. Despite your mistakes and national problems, this could have been avoided and arranged. Unfortunately, your prime minister (Tsipras) backed down. Politicians are very talented liars, they deserve an Oscar for life achievement. You lost, but I believe we make it.
It’s more than obvious that the north-European, protestant mentality is so incompatible with us in the south. And it’s a shame and unfair that the EU has become predominately a market union for the benefit of the German industrial products. It’s also a shame that they enslave people with imaginary debt, made up from imaginary money, within a banking system which is not controlled by the people. Sadly, our society’s economy is essentially organized on the basis of borrowing money from the future generations; because without it, we would probably return in an organization model of the middle ages. And I doubt, if this unfair system would ever allow the bitcoin technology revolution to be adopted peacefully.
Unfortunately, if Martin Armstrong, a brilliant mind outside the establishment, is right, then within around 15 years from now the whole economic system will have probably collapsed, due to the world sovereign debt crisis and the collapse of the pension system globally, caused by the high interest rates. Which means that we are probably heading towards a WW3. History is repeated, because our passions remain the same. Not to mention that we learn so slowly. Let alone that we rarely learn the real history. And even if we do, there isn’t much we can do to avoid it, because we are not in the right position.
Non siamo soltanto per far passare le vacanze i stranieri. Dobiamo credere nella noa forza!
Massimo you are right, but it is not the protestant mentality that causes the problem with the south. It is just that Germans and a handful of other predators (Austria, Finland, Netherlands) found a way (mostly via buying out corrupt politicians) to feed themselves on the flesh and wealth of the south. They are not going to stop, unless they are violently forced to, so yes, war is on the cards, once more caused by the usual suspect.
Iannis, you got problems with the debt. You got problems with your production/consumption model, you import more that you export. You got problems with the Turks. You got problems with the refugees. You got problems with the brain drain. You got infertility problems. You got more problems that you can all handle. And you got no plan. Fun is fun and done is done.
War is coming, indeed. How are you gonna win against an invasion? NATO won’t stand by you. What is your plan on the economy? What do you want? Just tourists? Do you have a vision for your future? If you identify the problem, as you claim, then why don’t you do something about it? So you got fooled? You were defeated and Italy is probably next on the list. What’s new? Do you have the inner strength to make up your mind and take action? Get you mess together and vote for a change by bringing new political representatives or the EU will suit you as they please. If not, then you better accept the fact that you a nation in decline and you are living your final downfall.