A bad night for Mrs Merkel - her ruling Christian Democrat party suffered a
major setback in regional elections, scraping a one-point lead over resurgent
Social Democrats allied to Mr Hollande. The anti-austerity movement across
Europe is a huge challenge to Germany and its economic doctrine of austerity
that until last night has ruled supreme with the support all of Europe’s
leaders, the EU, European Central Bank and financial markets. After the French
and Greek votes that consensus has been shattered at a time when Europe’s
economies are plunging further into recession, leaving little room to maneuver
for governments. Mr Sarkozy became the 11th European leader to fall foul of the
economic crisis since 2008 in a catastrophic result for the French Right. He was
ousted from the Elysée after just one term in the worst setback for the
centre-Right for over 30 years and lost crucial votes to the National Front.
......As
I have said elsewhere remember one of the supposed main benefits for joining the
Euro was said to be that we won't have all that really annoying bother of
changing different currencies when we travel abroad and businesses would know
exactly what goods cost without constantly consulting exchange rates. The
situation in which we find ourselves today makes the hassle of getting out a
£2.50 calculator and typing in a few figures pale into insignificance doesn't
it?
7 comments:
Prime minister Marian Rajoy indicated the Government was ready to intervene to save banks wrestling with the collapse of the housing market.
Bankia, Spain's fourth biggest bank, is the first in line for state aid. Rodrigo Rato, chairman and former IMF managing director, swiftly resigned after it was disclosed the finance ministry was preparing to refinance the bank and introduce legislation to protect the balance sheets of others.
Spain, which also signalled it could dock its only aircraft carrier to save €30m a year, is already struggling to cope with an austerity drive that has pushed the jobless total up to nearly 25pc of the workforce.
Mr Rajoy insisted that any bank bail-out would not compromise the tough targets set by Brussels to reduce the budget deficit.
Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital, said Spain's action was positive because "it's them taking ownership of their own issues".
The real "danger" is for the financial oligarchy at the end of the day.
With the real Left back in the picture it's the ideological framework of the past 30 years that is starting to break down.
Soon the entire peole of Europe will be looking to the Left for alternatives.
Yes, there ARE alternalives!
The "end of History"? Hahaha! you must be joking
"chancellor, Angela Merkel, insisted Athens must comply with the stringent terms of its €130bn (£100bn) bailout even though more than 60% of the Greek electorate had voted for parties rejecting those terms"
Dear Miss Merkel et al,
Stop sending the Greeks battle ships and fighter Jets instead of money as they can't feed their economy while polishing their new misiles!
Regards
The Majority.
"Europe's 30-month effort to save the euro by slashing spending and debt levels risks turning into a crisis of political legitimacy after EU leaders' strategies collided spectacularly with the wishes of voters in Greece and France."
Oh dear, all the political neo-libs, puppets of our "market" overlords, are stamping their feet, because the little people won't roll over and play their little 'austerity' game anymore. What a shame (not)!
Yup. The Greek, Spanish, Portuguese economies kept the relative value of the euro low, so the Germans could export around the world. Germany more than shared the gain, now it is time for it to share the pain. And I know it is hackneyed now, but so did the bankers and financial institutions, and had they really been in it together before and after we wouldn't be where we are now. Socialism, that's what we need.
Greece and France are very different stories, with the former facing an immediate crisis and the latter drifting slowly towards decline and stagnation.
In Greece it's one thing to rail against austerity but as I've said on here before, austerity is merely a shelter mechanism to get your house in order. If someone can show me how the Greek economy can grow and how the Greeks can balance their budget then let's hear it. For now I see a dysfunctional state that has yet to compile a basic register of its citizen's income. Tourists are heading en masse for Croatia and Turkey as Greece remains relatively expensive and strike-prone.
As for Hollande, he's playing a tricky game. If France wants to renegotiate a deal that's been signed then it allows everyone else who will want to try this too. What if the British decided to say no once more? Or imagine a new Polish government wanted to change the terms for 26 other countries. I don't think so. The last time the French wanted a treaty redone they got the "Stability Pact" renamed the "Growth and Stability Pact" but if the title changed, the substance did not.
Until mainstream politics accepts that several countries do not belong in a currency union with Germany we can expect this crisis to continue. Even if there was a magic wand to create growth it would struggle to solve the imbalances between Germany and several peripheral countries in Europe. In other words, growth or recession, some countries will have to leave the Euro and create their own currency.
So far, 85pc of Britons think Greece will exit the euro, while just 60pc of people living in Greece share the same sentiment (although this has been extrapolated from just 50 votes). In Germany and France, 80pc of those polled predicted a Greek exit.
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