Greece forced to amend its constitution as part of the bailout deal!
Posted Under: European Union,Greece,Uncategorized
It emerged that Greece will be forced to amend its constitution as part of the bailout deal. The BBC reports that:
Within the next two months, Greece will also have to amend its constitution to give priority to debt repayments over the funding of government services.
Just amazing. Without a doubt, this is the greatest of a series of attacks on Greece’s democracy. The elected President was pushed aside after he dared to suggest that Greece should hold a referendum on the austerity/bailout packages, and he’s been replaced by a “non-political” veteran of the European Central Bank. Yet this will make the hemming in of Greek democracy permanent. That after all is the point of constitutions: to act as fundamental check on the power of elected governments.
Austerity is to be made permanent, even once the bailiff regime of Prime Minister Papademos is resolved. Whoever the Greeks elect, they will be compelled to play by these rules. A future Greek government may find itself legally unable to default even if it wants to.
As I said in my last post on the matter, as an international debt collection agency, the EU really is unbeatable.
To contact Reuben email reuben@thethirdestate.net
Reader Comments
This has to be called a banker’s coup d’etat. There’s no other way to describe it.
Isabeau: What bank is getting anything out of this? I hardly think losing 70% of what you lend to someone at very low rates of interest (almost all of it lend when Greece borrowed at virtually the same rate as Germany) is some great victory. Banker’s have got utterly screwed by Greece running up a huge bill it can’t pay for.
As for the main article, I think it misses a key point – the Greek parliament could say no. It’s not anti-democratic to attach any conditions whatsoever to a loan when the loan has to be accepted by the democratically elected representatives of the people. If the Greeks want to default, they’re free to go ahead and do so. The Greeks are making a decision of what they want to do in a way entirely compatible with a modern representative democracy. That the choice is between a rock and a hard place is down to the mismanagement of their politicians.
Sure, it’s not direct democracy, but there are good reasons why most modern democracies are representative, not direct.
Once again, the EU shows what it’s real ideals and values are. They forget one thing though: All these deals are being made in the winter, but the Europeans riot in the summer.