For the past few months, I like so many others have watched the so far futile efforts of European leaders attempting to prop-up European economies with vast sums of borrowed money, our money, which in turn can only lead to even greater debt for someone, somewhere. First the Greek financial crisis followed by the Italian one, both of which led to loss of political heads, both being replaced by technocratic leaders. I strongly suspect more political heads will roll, but the Euro crisis is like the mythological many-headed Hydra, as one head is cut off, it is immediately replaced by another. Like the Hydra, the Euro crisis remains alive and kicking no matter how many political heads are removed.
The past week has seen the latest attempt to save this already mortally wounded beast with all Euro leaders except the UK succumbing to German/Franco pressure to allow Brussels bureaucrats to decide by as yet undefined rules, how much these supposedly sovereign states will be allowed to run their own economies. I find it very strange that the leaders of so many countries are prepared to sign up to an accord where outside general principles, the rules of the game have yet to be written.
It is indicative of just how economically alarmed some of these states appear to be. Many are not major players in either world or Euro leagues, similarly some have ever-increasing debt mountains they simply are unable to control. Surrendering this financial aspect of their sovereignty in the form of an accord without even a whimper, seems to me, that many are paving the way for the political hand-washing excuses that will follow the inevitable draconian cuts likely to be imposed on their populace’s. Don’t blame us, its Brussels that is cutting your standards of living.
I would not be at all surprised if by now, many Euro counties must be privately ruing the day they signed up to the single Euro currency.
The most important thing that appears to have been overlooked in all these grandiose conferences is the people themselves. It does seem to me, the question the average person in the street must be asking themselves by now, is how much longer are they expected to go on paying for other people’s mistakes? All I can see coming from this Euro-tinkering is the creation of a hot-bed of civil unrest which nobody wants.
The only thing that can be reasonably foreseen is the rumbling of the political tumbrel through the streets of Euroland as an economic Madame Guillotine removes one political head after another.
Whether the Euro as a currency or even the European Union itself survives the stormy waters ahead only fortune tellers can guess at. I do know that future historians will look back at this time in hindsight, dissecting events and wondering how anyone ever got themselves into such a mess. No future lessons will be learned, even when cause and effect are fully analysed and understood. A future generation of as yet unborn politicians will be there with the insatiable urge to dabble.
Filed under: The Euro Crisis, The Political Page | Tagged: blame game, bureaucrats, draconian cuts, economies, Euro crisis, Euroland, fortune tellers, German/Franco, Hydra, Madame Guillotine, political heads, sovereign states, technocrats, tumbrel | Leave a comment »
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