Look out there’s a monster coming

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Look out there's a monster comingThanks to Katabasis for this lead, it seems that having thrown loads of money at the Eurozone via the European Financial Stability Facility – the EU Zone are going to extract even more money from it’s indebted members and indenture them forever into the service of the European Stability Mechanism. London loves Business has the low down but for a quick tour of the highlights:

  • Total immunity from prosecution
  • Employee’s don’t pay tax
  • Eurozone members can never leave
  • If it asks for money members have to pay within 7 days, and it has no limit on what it can ask for

Oh and bankrupt Ireland will have to pay in 11Bn Euro’s that it doesn’t have for the privilege of giving all hint of sovereignty up to this unelected unaccountable quango.

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Yes you have no referendum

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In a shock and startling turn of events after being summoned to the G20 to explain what he was doing suggesting asking the people if the wanted to accept the austerity package or not – the Greek prime minister has decided that maybe the people don’t need to be asked after all. Having got that out of the way rumour has it that he’s off to resign – presumably to encourage anyone else that thinks referenda are a good thing. The EU’s allergy to asking the people their opinion on things really is quite impressive. it’s not after all as if the Greeks rejecting the current package would force anyone else to accept any other deal. They just get to discuss it again, of course if the Euro isn’t as sound as they’d have us believe that might cause further problems I suppose.

Of course none of this is proof of a totalitarian regime, the Greeks problems are of their own making. But that the prime minster thought he should check with the people first isn’t reneging on a deal either, last I checked most such treaties are subject to ratification.

Of course allegedly a lot of the debt isn’t real debt and could in fact be got rid of by everyone seeing what they owed each other. Pass the IOU’s round and see what’s left at the end, but then of course all those countries wouldn’t be able to point at the huge piles of money other people owe them.

Update Over at Septic Isle there’s a good round up of events from a different perspective – though the conclusions don’t seem hugely different – Greeks should have defaulted, EU(zone) doesn’t like referenda and the Euro zone is doomed roughly speaking

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Light the blue touch paper

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Light blue touch paper and retire So the Greeks appear to have lit the blue touch paper under the Euro project, by the crazy notion of asking the people what they think about a huge financial deal before signing up to it. Yet again the idea of a referendum seems to be throwing the euro-project into chaos and confusion, it would seem that democracy is as welcome to the eurocrats as water to the Witch of the West. There’s a lovely concise live(ish) blog of the “crisis” over at the FT (H/T Katabasis).

The choices facing the Greeks seem to be a referendum or an early election – I imagine if there’s an early election there’ll be an awful lot of things signed before then. Just in case someone gets in on a promise of a referendum or not signing up to the euro-cooked up agreement. Mind past expereince suggests that if the Greeks vote the wrong way they’ll just be given more chances to vote until they get it right – at least the ballot printing companies will do well out of it.

Interesting times, indeed – I can’t help but hope it blows up on Saturday just for the poetry of it.

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