# taz.de -- After the Euro Summit in Brussels: Thus fails Europe | |
> Thanks to a loathsome alliance, Merkel and Schäuble have been able to | |
> impose all of Germany’s demands on Greece. The result is a regime of | |
> sanctions and coercion. | |
Bild: It’s beautiful: the Greek euro. | |
„If the euro fails then Europe fails“, Chancellor Angela Merkel once said. | |
But Europe also fails if the monetary union degenerates into an | |
authoritarian regime of sanctions and coercion. That is precisely what | |
happened at the chaotic Euro Summit in Brussels. | |
In an unprecedented walkover, Merkel and her Finance Minister, Wolfgang | |
Schäuble, have imposed all of Germany’s demands. They boil down to | |
punishing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party, and making a | |
ward of Athens. | |
Not only are East German Treuhand style privatisation plans next on the | |
cards, the hated troika is once again set to take centre stage in Hellas. | |
At the same time, the parliament is being stripped of its power; it must | |
rubber-stamp all austerity and reform demands, and allow automatic cuts to | |
its budgets. | |
It was our admired Mr. Schäuble who conceived this coup. With his now | |
infamous Grexit paper he had already set the course prior to the summit. In | |
doing so, he accommodated the wishes of countries such as Finland, which | |
want to force Greece out of the euro and which have been demanding | |
collateral for any future aid. | |
## Hardliners from Helsinki | |
The alliance with the Finns is not new; Schäuble has been banking on the | |
hardliners from Helsinki for years. With their help, he also imposed his | |
terms upon Cyprus. This time however the right-wing populist „Finns Party“ | |
are part of the government in Helsinki – a loathsome alliance, of which | |
Schäuble should be ashamed. | |
Just as shameful is the way Merkel and Schäuble have snubbed their | |
traditional partnerships. After forging their alliance with Finland and | |
other hardliners, they simply ignored all demands from Italy or France. | |
It’s no wonder that the Italian press is already referring to a new Berlin | |
Wall. France too is appalled at the authoritarian and egotistical German | |
approach; Schäuble’s threat of a „temporary“ Grexit had President Franco… | |
Hollande seeing red. He called the proposed five-year Grexit unacceptable, | |
insisting that Greece remain in the eurozone. | |
## German fiscal pact | |
Hollande successfully averted the temporary Grexit – but at what price? The | |
debt relief that Paris was demanding prior to the summit is now off the | |
table. Instead, Athens is obliged to implement the German fiscal pact this | |
very week – precisely the strict budget regulations that Hollande wanted to | |
get rid of following his election win in 2012! | |
One is almost tempted to admit that the Greek ex-Finance Minister Yanis | |
Varoufakis was right. On the Friday before the summit he cautioned about | |
Schäuble in his blog, accusing him of wanting to make an example of Greece | |
in order to discipline France. Varoufakis certainly wasn’t far off the | |
mark. | |
Translation: Hans Kellett | |
13 Jul 2015 | |
## AUTOREN | |
Eric Bonse | |
## TAGS | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
Schwerpunkt Krise in Griechenland | |
Griechenland | |
Europa | |
taz international | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch | |
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA | |
Democracy and the Greek crisis: Breaking Europe’s Stunned Silence | |
No longer does anybody in Brussels dare to resist orders from Berlin. Do we | |
want a Europe run by decree? It’s time for debate. | |
Schäuble’s role in Brussels: Merkel’s bogeyman | |
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s manner over the Greek conflict has been mostly | |
obliging, while her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble played the role of | |
bad guy. | |
Economist about the ECB and Greece: Like setting off a nuclear bomb | |
The ECB denying Greece emergency loans would be blackmail, writes the | |
economist Martin Hellwig. A crisis like 1931 could be created. | |
Germany, Greece and the EU: Europe isn’t that German | |
What kind of a Europe do we want? Surely one that values solidarity. The | |
German course of austerity therapy has failed. It is time to correct the | |
mistakes. | |
After the Greek referendum: History in the Making | |
The outcome of the referendum is clear. Now more than ever it’s up to the | |
ECB, alongside the Greek government, to come up with solutions. | |
Grexit and the Eurozone: Destroyed confidence | |
The monetary system is based on confidence, and that confidence has been | |
shattered. The end of the monetary union is dawning – even if Greece | |
remains in the euro. | |
Angela Merkel and the Greek crisis: Is the Chancellor invulnerable? | |
Angela Merkel is prepared to push through a third aid package for Athens. | |
The opposition accuses her of wanting to help the Greek banks, not its | |
citizens. | |
Crisis in Greece: Europe’s helpless leftists | |
Syriza’s politics was a proposal for the system to show good will. This was | |
both naïve and impassioned. |