Zorba, the IMF and Europe In the current crisis in Greece, it yal'arbre, and there the forest. The tree: the financial worries of the Greek state, whereas elsewhere in perspective if we distinguish between the reality of the budget (public debt amounting to 110% of true GDP but compared with that of 100% of the United States and that of Japan ... 200%) and mid-runaway irrational, half-interested markets and speculators, leading to the current explosion of loan rate Hellenic countries. The forest: the neglect of its European partners, who swing between national egoism and limited ideological orthodoxy, have let the situation deteriorate so that early intervention would probably have decided and abruptly stopped the runaway markets.
They are both European institutions and their practices are involved. EU Treaty precludes a Member State is assisted in financial difficulty, as it excludes funding for European Central Bank. We are seeing the negative effects of austerity in times of crisis, a European mutual aid finally starts up, but belatedly and in difficulty as to the ECB, it now refuses to lend to Greece strangled by interest rates of bank loans, banks saved from crisis loans to 1% of the ... ECB ! Clearly, the system turned on its head and would need to be completely revised, the prospect of a European economic government no longer appears as a beautiful ideal very far, but as an urgent necessity. And then there practice. never has it been so obvious that Europe is an unmanned aircraft. Historically, the Franco-German engine has always been the union. Yet what has been seen in recent weeks, if not the illustration of disunity and failure of this engine? As the crisis reached its climax, an absence of the President of the Republic, not speaking until very late and leaving the Minister of Finance announced the benefits that France will pull the money loaned to Greece, in parallel, a short-sighted chauvinism of the German Chancellor, who, yielding to populist pressure and electoral considerations, has both delayed the European action and blown on the embers, publicly expressing his distrust Greece. We are paying a heavy price decoupling of France and Germany, and the responsibility of Nicolas Sarkozy is no exception in this divorce. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac in their time had always been seeking (that is to say constructed) the compromise with our neighbors across the Rhine - should remember that it is such a compromise and allowed the single European currency, and German reunification? Or who has avoided the commitment of Germany to the U.S. side during the invasion of Iraq in 2003? Nicolas Sarkozy, leaving the deteriorating climate between the two countries (think of rebalancing with England), has de facto allowed to establish a new rule, it's every man for himself. We are now seeing the consequences of this abandonment, with a Europe mired in its lack of "governance" and drawn by hue and dia external elements.
It would in any case be quite wrong to look at the Greek crisis from afar, sitting comfortably in his chair and reassured by the (present) note given to France by the sacrosanct rating agencies. By a vicious chain of causation, the crisis of 2008 - the sole responsibility of banks and finance - has come to impose a climate of austerity and deterioration of the public on European populations. "Conditions" senseless that we are about to impose the Greek people, in exchange for subsidies of Europe and IMF, paving the way for economic and social leveling similar in other EU countries - leveling, inevitably, the growth and break us down a little more in crisis. and social democracy can not consider that its role is to do the dirty work , to complete the adoption of austerity following the liberal excesses, with the false idea that if she 's over, it will be less hard for employees.
So instead of crying wolf cons of scapegoats, the Greek government accounts special effects today, another tomorrow, rather than apportioning blame isolated (rogue bosses, the rating agencies ...) to better preserve the system as a whole, we must take strong measures that move us beyond the status quo and management constraints. In terms of Europe, finally put the ECB under the political control of citizens and enable them to lend to member states in such a situation, with conditions that are accompanied by social clauses. One can also think that it is time to move beyond the certainties of monetarist and end the overvaluation of the euro, which needlessly penalizes foreign trade. Design a new policy customs border of the euro area, which penalizes imports do not meet our environmental and social standards. Finally, rather than to "pay" people who have lived "beyond their means" as it is being explained to Greece, to establish a European plan to boost consumption, which alone can get back into the virtuous circle of growth - and growth shared by all.
Julien Dray
PS I signed - and invites you to sign - the petition launched by Humanity demand that Greece receives loans at rates as great as those which have benefited the banks blame for the crisis.
