Predictable History, Unpredictable Past: The Week The Fourth Reich Began (Without A Shot Being Fired)

29 March 2013

The Week The Fourth Reich Began (Without A Shot Being Fired)

Genug! The EUSSR apparatchiks have got to be stopped from screwing ALL of the people, Greeks, Germans, Cypriots, etc.

By Simon Heffer

There has been a historic shift in the balance of power in Europe this week that will have profound repercussions for us all.

After years of subordinating themselves to the European project, not least because of guilt at causing World War II and their abominable conduct during it, the Germans have said enough is enough.

Cyprus must beggar itself to stay in the euro because Germany — which until now has bankrolled delinquent members of the eurozone — has refused to write any more blank cheques.

Enough is enough: Cyprus must beggar itself to stay in the euro because Germany - which until now has bankrolled delinquent members of the eurozone - has refused to write any more blank cheques

It has contributed to the island’s bail-out, but the insistence that bank depositors be forced to find the rest sends an ominous signal to other EU nations.

The message is this: if the euro survives, it must be because individual nations choose to find the means to remain in it. The Germans have done their bit — now they are determined that countries which are in the euro are there because of their own economic efforts, and not just because of Germany’s.

Since Angela Merkel has a crucial election to fight in September, this tough stewardship of German taxpayers’ money is no surprise. Also, as I mentioned here a fortnight ago, a new anti-euro party, Alternative fur Deutschland, is gathering momentum and credibility with a frightening speed.

In the days of Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac (pictured), the French persuaded the Germans to act in Europe's interests in times of crisis, rather than in Germany's - and Germany usually agreed

Mrs Merkel has been able to act in this way because of the shattering of her country’s decades-long partnership with France. In the days of Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, the French persuaded the Germans to act in Europe’s interests in times of crisis, rather than in Germany’s — and Germany usually agreed.

However, since Francois Hollande became French president last May, the intimate Franco-German axis has broken down. Merkel despises Hollande’s refusal to cut public spending in France, and his insistence on trying to raise taxes, and has little but contempt for him as a politician.

Difference of opinion: Angela Merkel despises Hollande's refusal to cut public spending in France, and his insistence on trying to raise taxes, and has little but contempt for him as a politician

For his part, Mr Hollande wants a devalued euro which would be cheaper on the foreign exchanges and thus encourage exports — something the Germans simply will not countenance.

There can be no meeting of minds, and so Germany is now going its own way.

However, there can be just one result from this truly historic shift in policy: the end of the euro as we know it. It will not only be Cyprus, over the next year or so that finds it impossible to afford to stay in the club on Germany’s terms (even though the island’s president this week said that it would not leave the euro).

Since Francois Hollande became French president last May, the intimate Franco-German axis has broken down

As with so many other false dawns — how often have we been told by Brussels’ propagandists that the euro crisis is over? — what has happened in Cyprus is just a sticking-plaster, for them and for the single currency.

Indeed, yesterday it emerged that contagion from this week’s crisis is now threatening to engulf Slovenia, said by analysts to be ‘inevitably heading for a bailout’.

It is widely predicted that Cyprus’s gross domestic product could shrink by 20 per cent over the next year. As it does, jobs will vanish and businesses will collapse.

Despite controls on the movement of money abroad imposed by the bailout deal, funds will leak out of Cypriot banks over the coming weeks and months and be spirited away.

And because, with its typical disregard for democracy, the EU forced Cyprus to agree not to vote on these measures, the chances of avoiding civil unrest on the island are slim. The euro is fast making Europe ungovernable, not least because increasingly the currency can only be secured by anti-democratic means, against the will of the people.

Five weeks after its elections, Italy still has no government. Greece is braced for a summer of discontent, as is Spain.

Brussels views these potential flashpoints with horror. A crisis in a bigger economy such as Italy could bring to a head the whole question of the future of the euro.

Italy is too big to bail out. And anyone who thinks France could not subside into full-blown economic crisis is not looking at the fundamentals: this week it registered its highest unemployment figure since 1997, at nearly 3.2 million. Given that 40 per cent of British trade is with Europe, the continued instability of the eurozone is of deep concern to us.

The best thing for Britain is that those countries which can’t hack it admit the problem quickly, and get on with the painful business of defaulting on their debts and restoring their old currencies.

A year ago, few would have said such an outcome was possible — Germany wouldn’t let it happen.

Now, though, Germany is making it clear that if it happens, it happens — and if a smaller, leaner, more efficient eurozone is the outcome, so be it.

History shows it is, always, only a matter of time before Germany ends up dominating Europe. After years of refusing to assert itself, Germany’s time has come again.

The Fourth Reich is here without a shot being fired: and the rest of Europe, and the world, had better get used to it.

http://tinyurl.com/coljwpz

29 March 2013

The Week The Fourth Reich Began (Without A Shot Being Fired)

No comments: