EU chief warns 'democracy could disappear' in Greece, Spain and Portugal
32 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.
In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.
The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.
A £650 billion bailout for Greece has already been agreed.
John Monks, former head of the TUC, said he had been ‘shocked’ by the severity of the warning from Mr Barroso, who is a former prime minister of Portugal.
Mr Monks, now head of the European TUC, said: ‘I had a discussion with Barroso last Friday about what can be done for Greece, Spain, Portugal and the rest and his message was blunt: “Look, if they do not carry out these austerity packages, these countries could virtually disappear in the way that we know them as democracies. They've got no choice, this is it.”
‘He's very, very worried. He shocked us with an apocalyptic vision of democracies in Europe collapsing because of the state of indebtedness.’
Greece, Spain and Portugal, which only became democracies in the 1970s, are all facing dire problems with their public finances. All three countries have a history of military coups.
Greece has been rocked by a series of national strikes and riots this year following the announcement of swingeing cuts to public spending designed to curb Britain’s deficit.
Spain and Portugal have also announced austerity measures in recent weeks amid growing signs that the international markets are increasingly worried they could default on their debts.
Other EU countries seeing public protests over austerity plans include Hungary, Italy and Romania, where public sector pay is to be slashed by 25 per cent.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who visited Madrid last week, said the situation in Spain should serve as a warning to Britain of the perils of failing to tackle the deficit quickly.
He said the collapse of confidence in Spain had seen interest rates soar, adding: ‘As the nation with the highest deficit in Europe in 2010, we simply cannot afford to let that happen to us too.’
Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.
But it risks infuriating governments in southern Europe which are already struggling to contain public anger as they drive through tax rises and spending cuts in a bid to avoid disaster.
Mr Monks yesterday warned that the new austerity measures themselves could take the continent ‘back to the 1930s’.
In an interview with the Brussels-based magazine EU Observer he said: ‘This is extremely dangerous.
'This is 1931, we're heading back to the 1930s, with the Great Depression and we ended up with militarist dictatorship.
‘I'm not saying we're there yet, but it's potentially very serious, not just economically, but politically as well.’
Mr Monks said union barons across Europe were planning a co-ordinated ‘day of action’ against the cuts on 29 September, involving national strikes and protests.
David Cameron will travel to Brussels on Thursday for his first summit of EU leaders since the election.
Leaders are expected to thrash out a rescue package for Spain’s teetering economy. Spain is expected to ask for an initial guarantee of at least £100 billion, although this figure could rise sharply if the crisis deepens.
News of the behind-the-scenes scramble in Brussels spells bad news for the British economy as many of our major banks have loaned Spain vast sums of money in recent years.
Germany’s authoritative Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper reported that Spain is poised to ask for multi-billion pound credits.
Mr Barroso and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank are united on the need for a rescue plan.
The looming bankruptcy of Spain, one of the foremost economies in Europe, poses far more of a threat to European unity and the euro project than Greece.
Greece contributes 2.5 percent of GDP to Europe, Spain nearly 12 percent.
Yesterday’s report quoted German government sources saying: ‘We will lead discussions this week in Brussels concerning the crisis. It has intensified to the point that the states do not want to wait until the EU summit on Thursday in Brussels.”’
At the end of last month the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Spain, triggering sharp falls on stock markets.
On Friday the administration in Madrid continued to insist no rescue package was necessary. But Greece said the same thing before it came close to disaster.
Yesterday the European Commission and the statistics authority Eurostat met to consider Spain‘s plight as many EU countries consider the austerity package proposed by the Madrid administration insufficient to deal with the country‘s problems.
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Source: [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1286480/EU-chief-warns-democracy-disappear-Greece-Spain-Portugal.html[/url]
I fucking hate the EU anyway. Hope this leads to a collapse of the stupid union. It [B]won't[/B] though, because The Mail reported this and they hate everything.
[QUOTE=Memobot;22740723]I fucking hate the EU anyway. Hope this leads to a collapse of the stupid union. It [B]won't[/B] though, because The Mail reported this and they hate everything.[/QUOTE]
Care to explain why you hate the Union? Isn't it a good thing that promotes increased trade, peace, etc?
Ah, this reminds me of my younger days in school, when the EU was a fresh concept and some advocates came to explain to me why the EU was going to dynamically change Europe for the better, permanently.
I distinctly remember how it would obliterate the United States in almost every category.
I wonder what they think today.
lets get dem dictorships
Because we all know that dictatorships help the economy in the long run.
[QUOTE=Metromonkey;22740762]Care to explain why you hate the Union? Isn't it a good thing that promotes increased trade, peace, etc?[/QUOTE]
I was unaware that Europe was at war with itself. I just don't think it's cost effective, laws they decide on can't always work yet they force them upon every country, and the restrictions are horrible. Plus, individual countries cannot make any general suggestions without powerhouse economies such as Germany backing them.
It's almost as bad as living in a police state.
Oh great, alot of people including my grandfather fighted to get rid of dictatorship in Portugal, now we're running the risk of going into another dictatorship.
Fucking great.
they talk as if the EU, which is essentially trying to create a European super state, is democratic. I hope this economic situation gets rid of the EU permanently.
daily mailllllll
[QUOTE=Memobot;22740899]I was unaware that Europe was at war with itself. I just don't think it's cost effective, laws they decide on can't always work yet they force them upon every country, and the restrictions are horrible. Plus, individual countries cannot make any general suggestions without powerhouse economies such as Germany backing them.
It's almost as bad as living in a police state.[/QUOTE]
I meant that it was my perception that the EU made wars less likely due to reliance on each other for trade as well as having a peacekeeping force. I, actually, am rather uninformed on how the EU operates. My question was purely out of curiosity. Thanks for the answer.
Greece, Spain, and Portugal are all first-world countries. Thinking that small groups of people will rise up and seize control of them is stupidity.
I just hope the open borders aren't closed. Driving without any trouble into Lithuania and having a nice meal is the best.
that's hilarious. the EU claiming democracy could disappear in those countries. you know. since NO european citizens were involved in the decision to make Herman von rumpy dumpy the president of the european commision. where was the democracy in that?
[QUOTE=Bad)-(and;22746885]that's hilarious. the EU claiming democracy could disappear in those countries. you know. since NO european citizens were involved in the decision to make Herman von rumpy dumpy the president of the european commision. where was the democracy in that?[/QUOTE]
people complain about the president of the EC not being elected and if we were able to vote they would be all like "holy shit were electin a president for a superstate!!!!!!!!"
I hope this doesn't happen to the UK. We have massive debts also :ohdear:
[QUOTE=Bad)-(and;22746885]that's hilarious. the EU claiming democracy could disappear in those countries. you know. since NO european citizens were involved in the decision to make Herman von rumpy dumpy the president of the european commision. where was the democracy in that?[/QUOTE]
Did you vote for say, any cabinet officials to get their posts? Who undoubtedly have more powers than someone chairing the European [B]Council[/B].
The Council is in fact the official term for the group of representatives of each member state, I.E. their foreign ministers, regular meetings which are now organised by Van Rompuy.
The EU does have some shortcomings on democracy, but Van Rompuy is a poor example of that.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;22747171]I hope this doesn't happen to the UK. We have massive debts also :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
the government just made cuts of £2bn and is going to make a further 4 this year so no we won't
[editline]12:26PM[/editline]
of course if Labour would have had their way, they would have waited to cut spending meaning more severe cuts would be needed later
I like the EU. The trade, the increased cultural mix, the feeling of unity, a chance against superhuge economies like China and India. That's good.
If you think of it, it's much like the USA. Just USE.Can't say anything against that.
The problem with it is that while the USA was created along the single states and the Union, it even took a war, the EU is created ontop of already existing countries. That makes it difficult and spawned a bloated bureaucracy.
But if you think about it, the USA took their time in becoming big, from creation to WW2 when they finally got one of the leading nations in the world. I think we should give the EU a chance too.
Oh god, this is horrible.
I hope this thing with the military dictatorship won't spread to my country too (Romania). It has been only 21 years of democracy here since we got out of communism (a big revolution happened in 1989 where the leader,Ceausescu,was killed) and I don't want this country to be like it was, if not worse.
Having fun over there in dem Europes?
:fsmug:
[QUOTE=ionuttzu;22751182]Oh god, this is horrible.
I hope this thing with the military dictatorship won't spread to my country too (Romania). It has been only 21 years of democracy here since we got out of communism (a big revolution happened in 1989 where the leader,Ceausescu,was killed) and I don't want this country to be like it was, if not worse.[/QUOTE]
Wow, I feel for you. Romania has some pretty rough history behind it.
If ANY European country crumbles from this huge debt crisis it's going to have a massive effect on the rest of the world. This is one of those things that, in the world's current economic state, could snowball out of control.
[editline]12:11PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=lulzbocks;22751282]Having fun over there in dem Europes?
:fsmug:[/QUOTE]
Trust me dude, this will have a big impact on us too. America has a lot of big trading allies over in Europe.
Yeah, I remember that the DOW Industrial Average kept plummeting for a few days because of worry over the EU's instability due to Greece.
Globalization is risky business, especially when the economy is this frail.
[QUOTE=lulzbocks;22751282]Having fun over there in dem Europes?
:fsmug:[/QUOTE]
Don't worry if we crash you come down just as hard.
And with the Oil spill and possible worry over Oil you might just get hit harder :smile:
[QUOTE=Killuah;22747237]the increased cultural mix
[/QUOTE]
Why are people so obsessed with changing countries cultures.
[QUOTE=Metromonkey;22740762]Care to explain why you hate the Union? Isn't it a good thing that promotes increased trade, peace, etc?[/QUOTE]
it's the countries that are involved that is the problem. ideally, we should kick out pretty much all of eastern europe, as well as any other unstable countries, which would leave us with germany, france, britain and scandinavia, which is about right. the eu might actually get somewhere then.
[editline]05:40PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=lulzbocks;22751282]Having fun over there in dem Europes?
:fsmug:[/QUOTE]
enjoy your lack of bp and reduced oil supplies once your government has finished.
[editline]05:45PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Memobot;22740723]I fucking hate the EU anyway. Hope this leads to a collapse of the stupid union. It [B]won't[/B] though, because The Mail reported this and they hate everything.[/QUOTE]
they don't hate everything, it's just run by idiots
lol basically it's replacing 'capitalism' with 'democracy'.
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