Re: EU Debt Crisis
Originally Posted by
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The eurozone banks were bailed out and they have to pay the money back. The money isn't there .....
How was a Greek deconfiture to be avoided? If the eurozone had immediately opted for a joint approach, in which the ECB would buy government bonds on a large scale, in particular from the weak countries, as finally proved possible in 2012, there would probably have been no euro crisis at all. But the German government, through Angela Merkel, did not feel anything like this: no joint approach at any price. German voters did not want to spend a cent on Greece or other euro countries. Germany had already spent 1000 billion euros on the former GDR; it had been nice. Greece had to save itself with loans that were provided through the so-called Troika, a joint venture between the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brussels and the ECB.
Greece was forced to satanic cuts. Those loans to Greece were consistently just too few. That is how over two years of europaniek started. This led to a tragicomic routine in which the heads of government gathered at every turn in Brussels about how the euro should be saved. The fact that France and Germany wanted to save the euro at all costs was clear, but Germany continued to refuse a joint approach.
Thus, small steps were taken in Brussels, which soon required a slightly panic new meeting. The fact that all these small steps were not without significance, and that Merkel did make a significant concession, turned out in 2012. During those two years, two loan facilities were set up, which should go together in a definitive European Stability Mechanism; plans were made for a Bank Unie and strict tax arrangements were made. This led the ECB director, Mario Draghi, to say quite unexpectedly in July 2012: "The ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to save the euro. Believe me, it will be enough. '
That meant a comprehensive purchase policy. He did not do so without Merkel's permission, but his statement led to angry reactions in Germany and he remained a suspicious figure in the German media. For Merkel, this was the least of all evils. With Draghi's statement, the euro crisis was over, certainly not all euro problems
solved.
What can we conclude if we look at the entire credit crisis including the euro crisis in a broader perspective? The American government ensured an extremely fast and effective approach and thus strengthened the position of the dollar. The euro crisis approach was slow and clumsy. In view of the final outcome, the euro crisis was in fact superfluous, although you could also say that Merkel needed time to accept the inevitable.
Some say that Merkel deliberately spent two years trying to force the other European countries into a 'German' financial policy. The tragedy of the whole crisis is undoubted, although perhaps the word 'shame' is more appropriate, that the culprits have been helped and left undamaged, whereas ordinary American and euroburgers have had to pay the bill, partly in the form of shameful cuts.