Professional Documents
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UNIO EUROPEIA
Kostas Vergopoulos 1
Flvio Bezerra de Farias2
Welbson do Vale Madeira3
RESUMO
After the victory of the new Greek government, a direct result of the
popular, democratic will, international reactions are far from unanimous. Even
though everyone accepts the result of popular verdict, many people are doubtful
about the decision. It seems as if the Greek people are free to democratically
elect their government, but their European and international counterparts are
also free to ignore the content of the people's democratic verdict and enforce, in
an undemocratic manner, the misguided and destructive recipe that the Greek
people voted against.
Significantly, while the result of the election brings to the surface doubts
and questions in France, Italy and Spain about the efficacy of the choices that
have driven the entire Eurozone to the brink of deflation, the German side does
not share these doubts. On the contrary, they threaten that any deviation from
the "one-way path" that has been taken during the last five years will have
consequences for those who diverge from it.
It is odd that the German side does not offer any real arguments about
the questions that have arisen in the rest of Europe. It offers only threats,
without feeling the need to prove the fiscal efficacy of its choices.
The first blackmailing argument that it poses is that a potential
unburdening of austerity in Greece and the rest of Europe would make for a
more lax attitude towards structural reforms that aim to boost competitiveness.
However, analysis of the past five years is clear: the spread of austerity in the
Eurozone has led directly to a generalized recession and deflation for all
member states, Germany included. As far as the infamous structural reforms
4
are concerned, especially with regards to the job market and welfare state, as
the Financial
Times points
out, they
have
been
inextricably
linked
to
recessionary pressure.
The IMF's estimate is similar: structural reform is necessary but difficult to
implement during a recession. These reforms must be implemented only if they
do not lead to further financial recession. If there is one thing that has poisoned
the European economy after the 2008 crisis, it is the German idea that a purge
comes before a recovery.
The second, blackmailing argument that the German side poses is that
no debt write-off can be accepted by any country, as this would lead other
countries to attempt the same. Again, this does not take into account a nation's
ability to repay its debt, nor the humanitarian and economic disaster that has
befallen it because of the faulty plan the lenders have implemented; it only
considers the potential for disobedience and contagion to other debt-ridden
countries.
However, given that no argument beyond obedience and the halting of
disobedience is presented to these questions that concern the serviceability of
debt and the need to immediately combat rising unemployment, there is little to
dispute the conclusion reached by Nobel winner Paul Krugman that the German
Chancellor is managing the European economy in the style of the Godfather,
Michael Corleone. One supreme managerial leader, with an argument for
power, obedience and "virtue" no matter what the cost to Europe or the world.
The third false argument that is always presented by this side is that the
cost from a potential debt write-off would fall on the shoulders of European
taxpayers. The French newspaper Figaro rushed to estimate that such a writeoff would cost each French taxpayer 735 euros and even more for German
citizens. However, these commentators fail to mention that these amounts that
have been shelled out and are owed by the Greek people return right back to
French and German banks, and only a small portion of them enters the Greek
economy. The repeated "bailouts" of the Greek economy are, for the most part,
nothing more than bailouts for European credit institutions.
In accordance with the idea of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy,
the money is placed in a special account outside of Greece, to which Greece
has no access to, and debt is serviced from there. Since austerity has been
enforced, debt rises faster than national income and therefore debts become
even less serviceable. Thus, the system seems to work against lender nations-and aren't they the ones to blame for the inability to pay off debts?
Anyone familiar with the economic history of mankind, as Martin Wolf of
the Financial Times is, also is familiar with the fact that "what cannot be paid,
will not be paid." Everything else is an excuse, in attempt to cover up the blame
for the sad situation that Europe finds itself in today. It has inexcusably,
unjustifiably and by choice become a huge and menacing "black hole" for the
world economy.
Autores Noam Chomsky; tienne Balibar; Michael Lwy; Istvn Mszros; Pierre Salama;
Flvio Bezerra de Farias et alii.
.
final a sua ofensiva contra todos os que constitumos a esmagadora maioria nas
nossas sociedades. No podemos permitir-nos o luxo de resistir separadamente, cada
qual isolado no seu canto. Assim, unamos as nossas foras num vasto movimento de
solidariedade com a resistncia da Grcia. Apoiemos a Comisso pela Verdade sobre
a Dvida Pblica grega e multipliquemos Comisses semelhantes onde seja possvel.
A luta do povo grego a nossa luta e a sua vitria ser a nossa. A
nossa unio a nossa fora.