“The Troika itself created this deadlock…”

by Karin Beindorff

Since quite some weeks now, the European public as well as Greece have been pelted by relentless media criticism. Submit yourselves to the requests of the creditors; you elected a left-winged government – now send them to hell! Although quite untrue, the argument runs: If you vote “No”, you will not only be kicked out of the Euro, but out of the EU as well. A government that has been in office for just five months is being held accountable for all misfortunes. Merkel, Hollande, Juncker, Schäuble, Schulz and whoever has a say in politics and finance are conjuring up the European ideal, pretending to aim at holding the citizens’ money together and fighting for a healthy economic growth.
What I am missing most in view of this propaganda battle are critical questions and facts of journalists, who won’t let themselves be made mouthpieces of interest groups – above all: Where do Greece’s debts originate from? Who is profiting from those credits of billion? Why did Germany, above all others, campaign with such zeal for Greece’s accession to the Eurozone?
Why did the Europeans treat Greek Conservatives and Socialists in Athens who have been well-known for their nepotism, so very permissively and served them credits again and again, which did not benefit the Greek population but European lenders and exporters instead – as the figures show?
Who profited from that gigantic armament whose sudden silencing raises suspicion and where did the money come from? Why are the European demands not negotiated in the open,  but unproven  assertions are instead being spread in interviews without ever asking critical questions?

Austerity policy failed

It is quite obvious: austerity policy failed in Greece. The collapse of the economy by 25 percent – an  economy that was not very exuberant anyway – youth  unemployment of 60 percent , mass emigration and retired people searching the garbage pins for food, Greece can never pay back the debt of 300 billion – any student of economics can calculate that.
It is equally clear that the introduction of the euro and concomitant transfer of democratic rights on to EU institutions without any parliamentary control has led and will further lead to wide-spread impoverishment of parts of Europe’s population – when looking at Spain, Portugal, Ireland, at the social facts and figures, one notices at what cost the tiny upturn had been bargained. It seems that the austerity propagandists have already given these people up. The policies of the Eurozone pretend to be a democratic project – its manifestations in this conflict unmask it as financially motivated pressure group politics.

Fear that the TINA¹ politics might be put to the test

These days, Joseph Stiglitz, US-American Nobel Prize Laureate for Economics is writing in the British “Guardian” that the conflict is not so much about money and economy but about power and democracy. The new social movements in Europe are growing and winning elections. They as well as the Tsipras government have stepped up to subordinate economic issues under social premises again. In Europe’s established parties there is fear going about that this “basta” politics, i.e. the alleged lack of alternatives which is containing the countries’ scope of action in view of the constraints of globalization, might indeed be put to the test of democracy. The Troika itself created this deadlock of 78 percent of Greek debts, in which they are now stuck. Now they are trying to sneak out at the expense of the Greek population.
Only in case the Greek population vote “No” on Sunday, will there be a chance to open up ways out of this impasse.     •

1    TINA=There Is No Alternative

Source: Deutschlandfunk from 4.7.2015, <link http: www.deutschlandfunk.de>www.deutschlandfunk.de/referendum-ueber-sparauflagen-warum-die-griechen-mit-nein.720.de.html?dram:article_id=324487

(Translation Current Concerns)