March 2, 2010

Is Greece now a protectorate of the EU?

Greece hasn't had this kind of worldwide publicity since the 2004 Olympics.

Is Greece now a protectorate of the EU? This opinion is being put forward by Greek leftists and by opinion writers from both sides of the political spectrum in the world press. The EU system contains tools to bend member nations to the will of the strongest members (in finances, that means Germany and France).

This also works in reverse, as Greece has long been able to get more out of the EU through funding and subsidies than what it has had to put in. But now the 'club rules' are being used to discipline Greece for financial failure, acerbated specifically by former governments in Athens using tricks and sleight of hand to hide the true numbers about debt accumulation.

The EU knew the numbers out of Greece were phony, but didn't expect the scale of falsehood that emerged after strict auditing. That seems to be the main impetus driving the EU toward a literal assumption of financial powers within the Greek borders (Below) from Kathimerini online:

"Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday called on Greeks to “rally together” to stop the country from “going under” shortly before the European Union’s Commissioner for Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn, in Athens on an official visit, called on the government to take additional austerity measures to plug a gaping budget deficit.

During a televised Cabinet meeting, Papandreou appealed to all Greeks to back the government’s efforts to exit the crisis. “Otherwise, we risk losing the ability to determine our own fate,” Papandreou said, a clear reference to the risk of Brussels taking over Greek financial decision-making."

The more suspicious ask if this consequence wasn't something desired all along, as many in the EU use crisis as a way to push for even tighter integration of national economies into the EU-whole. See comments by Ollie Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, regarding this.

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