The Revolt of the South, or the imperative to build a new Europe!

By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos
04/11/2020

Spanish (Socialist) Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has now taken the initiative to call for more solidarity inside the EU to confront the coronavirus crisis.

Τhe Maastricht Treaty is organizing a perfect “Kingdom of Finance” in Europe, a neoliberal entity forbidding solidarity, or associating it with austerity, terms which, in the context of a crisis, may lead to the destruction of the economy and the social welfare state and the pillage of the smaller and weaker EU members by the corporations of the stronger and richer, and Germany in particular, as it happened in Greece.

We are not sure that corona-bonds represent the best solution for the financing of an anti-crisis Eurozone program, because they still keep the umbilical cord between the EU and the Empire of Finance, the world of financial capital. Still they represent a first, very small and still very important step in the direction of transforming the EU from a large neoliberal “free market”, tailored to the needs of global financial capital, multinational corporations and Germany, into something beginning to look like a real European Union.

According to the Spanish PM, Europe must now build a war economy and promote European resistance, reconstruction and recovery. It must do so as soon as possible with public debt support measures taken by many states, including Spain, and it must continue to do so after the end of the state of emergency with a “new Marshall Plan.” At the same time, Sanchez recalls the historic “mistake” made by the EU in its response to the 2008 crisis through austerity. A mistake which is reflected, very clearly, to both the dire situation of the health systems across half of Europe and to the socio-economic situation in Greece.

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For their part, a number of Italian politicians point out in an open letter to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that if the European Union does not prove that it exists (in the coronavirus crisis), then it will cease to exist! The Italians are attacking the Netherlands, but it is obvious that they are saying all that to The Hague to be heard by Berlin.

Usually silent, Jacques Delors hastened a few days ago to ring the alarm bell, talking about the deadly danger to which the EU lacks the solidarity to respond.

Abominable Capitalism

Both the neoliberal globalist elites and the neoconservative – the nationalist wing of the Western-Israeli establishment, the “war of civilizations” (Pompeo, Netanyahu, Thiel etc.) party, partisans of the “America First” doctrine, etc., i.e. the two “parties” of modern capitalism, in the midst of the present crisis are showing their abominable face, characteristic of the threat they pose, not only to civilization, but also to the very survival of humanity.

Everybody in the West, and first of all the United States, is stealing masks and other medical equipment from other countries. When Italy asked for help, no EU state offered. The only help it received was from Russia, China and Cuba. As for the Pompeo-Netanyahu-Trump club, it imposed new sanctions on Iran, it is considering military action against Teheran, it is pressing countries in need of Cuban medical help not to ask or accept it is using the epidemic against Palestinians. Meanwhile, they are threatening the World Health Organization with funding cuts. They are threatening Venezuela with military intervention and have launched a new “Cold War” against China. They did all that in the midst of a pandemic which is threatening health and prosperity everywhere!

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It should be noted that the letter from the Italian politicians underlines that the Netherlands is blocking emergency aid to EU members, although it has been “using its tax system for years to withdraw tax revenue from major European countries”. The authors also note that German reconstruction after World War II was possible due to the enormous leniency shown to Germany in terms of debt, but also its economic policy as a whole.

Under the shadow of the Debt

At the same time, the issue of the bubble of an enormous accumulated global Debt, in particular of the Debt of Global South, is now being raised by all sides, both inside and outside Europe. Debt is becoming the biggest economic issue of our times, just as the social issue dominated the 19th century.

At present, however, Merkel, Schäuble and Altmaier remain adamant in defending their views, in spite of the fact that for Italy or Spain to accept them is equivalent to committing suicide. They probably do not realize the seriousness of the risk of a final dissolution of the EU and the consequences of such a dissolution to Germany itself. The result is that every passing day, poison is added to intra-European relations that, from one point onwards, will not allow for a return.

Read more at https://uwidata.com/9814-the-revolt-of-the-south-or-the-imperative-to-build-a-new-europe/

For the Common Appeal for the Rescue of the Peoples of Europe read here