It is not necessary to be a soothsayer to foresee the political fall-out that will ensue following draconian fiscal measures being taken throughout Euroland in the wake of the Euro crisis. One could be easily forgiven for perceiving the only solution, perhaps some would call it a mantra, that the Technocrats which now apparently govern Europe understand, is one of “Make the People Pay”.
It is all too easy for leaders comfortably buffered from the real hardships many in their populaces are undergoing, to fully understand the deep resentment many are held in as they introduce fiscal policies often amounting to a form of national self-flagellation. Policies that have led to loss of jobs, loss of housing, loss or reduction of pay and pensions and even cases of alleged starvation. Such policies to all but the seriously misguided could be considered a vote-winning agenda but which never-the-less appear to have been pursued with great zeal irrespective of the real cost to national populaces. Politicians have always promised that pain today is necessary for jam or a better future tomorrow. I must confess that as a pensioner, I am still waiting for tomorrow to arrive.
I cannot help but feel that as national elections start to take place throughout Euroland, many of todays leaders are likely to be cast into the political wilderness, possibly forever. Signs of this process are already becoming apparent. France is at present midway in it’s two stage election process with the current President Nicolas Sarkozy facing an uphill struggle to retain his position. Internal political upheaval has caused the Dutch Prime Minister to tender his resignation to pave the way for early elections.The Czech Republic is also facing similar upheaval while in Greece, one Prime Minster has been forced to resign and his successor may well be forced out of office in turn by fast approaching national elections. Italy too has seen a change in national leadership in the wake of the Euro crisis. Whatever the outcome of future national elections, the noise of the approaching political tumbrel weaving its way through Euroland can be clearly heard.
One of the greatest dangers in elections is the temptation for national populaces to turn to more radical political parties in their frustration if not outright hostility to more middle of the road parties, something that leaves me with a dark sense of foreboding for the future. A feeling that within the next few years, the political map of Europe is about to be rewritten, not necessarily for the better.
I suspect that future historians when looking back on the current European period will created a descriptive term to encapsulate events already in the making. Terms like “The Dark Ages” or the “Wind of Change” in Africa have already been used. Who knows what such a future descriptive term will be, or even if it will impart a sense of an optimistic or pessimistic period of time.
Filed under: The Euro political tumbrel keeps rumbling on, The Political Page | Tagged: draconian fiscal measures, Euro crisis, Euroland, future historians, jam today, loss of housing, loss of jobs, loss of pay, national elections, national populaces, national self-flagellation, optimism, pessimism, political map of Europe, political wilderness, politicians, soothe-sayer, tumbrel, Wind of Change | 1 Comment »
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