The principle of self-determination of nations may, to some,
appear irrelevant in the context of the eurozone crisis. The 17 countries
signed up to the single currency are all, on the face of it, independent states
free to determine their own destiny.
Dig deeper and it’s another story, however. Take the
examples of Greece and Ireland , two of
the so-called “periphery” eurozone states.
They may be at opposite ends of Europe
but they share one thing in common – a clear and present threat to their right
to determine their own future.
Irish voters have been told in no uncertain terms to vote
“yes” in Thursday’s referendum on whether the country should back the new
European Union fiscal union treaty that imposes strict spending controls on
member states.
Yesterday, Irish prime minister Enda Kenny went on
television to warn voters that a rejection of the new treaty would bring
“uncertainty at a time Ireland
definitely doesn’t need it”. He attacked the No side for “its politics of
negativity, of defeat, of opportunism and of fantasy economics”.
This was a bit rich coming from a political class that
helped drive the Irish economy and financial system into the ground in a
rampant demonstration of the self-same fantasy economics.
Jim Stewart, senior lecturer in finance at Trinity College ,
Dublin , points
out in the Social
Europe Journal, says the fiscal treaty can be added “to the list of flawed
policy making that has helped turn an economic crisis … into a national
catastrophe.”
If the Yes vote succeeds, the treaty will be incorporated
into the Irish constitution and gives other signatories the right to bring a
case against Ireland
in the event of non-compliance. “It is the same thinking that
initially set penal interest rates on Ireland ’s borrowing under the
EU/IMF Programme.”
In practice, the long struggle for Irish independence is
fundamentally weakened by a form of EU blackmail imposed by Germany , the
European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary
Fund. And this is the case in Greece
too.
Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, has now
added insult to injury with a fresh attack on the Greek people who are seen as
thankless for daring to hold a general election on the bail-out terms imposed
on the country in exchange for loans.
Lagarde said Greeks had to take responsibility for their
fate, adding that deprived children in Africa needed more help than people in Greece . "I
think they (the Greeks) should help themselves collectively ... by all paying
their tax." That’s a bit difficult when one in five is out of work –
rising to 50% amongst young people – and the economy is in free-fall as a
result of the EU-IMF imposed austerity measures.
Just as in Ireland, ruling class politicians are passing on
the threat if voters next month repeat their support for parties like Syriza that
want to renegotiate the bail-out conditions. Antonis Samaras of New Democracy
said a vote against the loan terms would leave Greece with “no food, no drugs,
no fuel. It will have to live with permanent power cuts".
What Samaras is saying in effect is that there is no point
in next month’s elections which follow the recent stalemate. You can vote
against austerity but in the end, the EU-IMF will have their way. You can vote
against the fiscal treaty in Ireland ,
but ultimately there’s no choice, according to prime minister Kenny.
The struggle for self-determination clearly needs renewing
and not just in Greece and Ireland .
Working people throughout the capitalist EU will have to create their own
popular, democratic independence, working together across Europe
on a new revolutionary and equal basis.
Paul Feldman
Communications editor
No comments:
Post a Comment