Why America will never let Greece leave the Eurozone. Merkel will fold like origami to Greek demands
Alexrpt
Original
Germany is bluffing on Greece
Mark Wiesbrot | co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. and president of Just Foreign Policy
I conclude that the plan is still regime change in Greece. So I don't think that Merkel is necessarily going to fold. After all, the eurocrats are a lot stronger than Syriza, so the belief still is that Syriza can be taken down.
The real question is whether the neoliberalism will permit an avowedly leftist government in Europe. I don't think so. And the US doesn't want this either. If push comes to shove, there will be a military coup if historical precedent is any guide.
The problem is that Greece doesn't fit the profile of a neoliberal country and it is setting a bad example. That has to change one way or another. Increasing social democracy or socialism is not acceptable.
The real question is whether the neoliberalism will permit an avowedly leftist government in Europe. I don't think so. And the US doesn't want this either. If push comes to shove, there will be a military coup if historical precedent is any guide.
The problem is that Greece doesn't fit the profile of a neoliberal country and it is setting a bad example. That has to change one way or another. Increasing social democracy or socialism is not acceptable.
I see it as playing down the clock, but I think Syriza will last and Merkel is on thin ice with her voters. Regional elections have been slowly turning.
ReplyDeleteThat article makes the bizarre assumption that because Greece leaves the Eurozone, it therefor has to leave the EU. Perhaps the author is not aware of the fact that the UK and some other countries are in the EU, but not in the Eurozone – i.e. don’t use the Euro.
ReplyDeleteAre you aware that those other members have an opt-out of the Euro in the treaty, but Greece doesn't?
ReplyDeleteBut having said that it is irrelevant. Nobody has actually explained how the other members are going to throw Greece out of the EU or even the Eurozone! They just keep repeating it to frighten people.
It's just another 'the boogie man will get you if you don't do what the EU says' line. Which is what you get from all Europhiles all the time.
The problem with the fear card is that eventually people become immune to it.
Ralph, I am by no means a legal expert but you might want to read this:
ReplyDeleteLegality
A working paper published by the European Central Bank concluded:[40]
… that negotiated withdrawal from the EU would not be legally impossible even prior to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and that unilateral withdrawal would undoubtedly be legally controversial; that, while permissible, a recently enacted exit clause is, prima facie, not in harmony with the rationale of the European unification project and is otherwise problematic, mainly from a legal perspective; that a Member State's exit from EMU, without a parallel withdrawal from the EU, would be legally inconceivable; and that, while perhaps feasible through indirect means, a Member State's expulsion from the EU or EMU, would be legally next to impossible.
In the legal literature, the question of whether a country can unilaterally leave the Eurozone without leaving the EU is controversial. Jens Dammann has taken the view that under certain conditions, it is possible for a Member State to end its membership in the Eurozone without leaving the European Union.[41]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_withdrawal_from_the_eurozone#Legality