Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
Is this a crucial European issue for them? My understanding, quite likely wrong, is that this doesn't change Greece's relationship within the EU but involves accepting money from them in exchange for more cuts to balance their books.
It's a financial decision for the government to make, it is the type of decision they are elected to make. There are no constitution changes involved either.
|
The deal involves the presence of EU civil servants inside the Greek government machine to help ensure compliance. That in itself is a very troubling development and one which would have even me on the streets were it happening in my country to my government. Whether or not it is a formal change to a written constitution is immaterial in my view. It amounts to the institutionalisation of the European Union as a direct player in the business of government in Greece and arguably sets a precedent that historians might be pointing at years from now as the moment a Federal European Government was born, with powers to directly influence or even dictate the behaviour of state Governments, from within those governments.
It also imposes decades of taxation and falling living standards within Greece - consequences that will be felt by the Greek people, yet without the Greek people having had any opportunity to accept or reject them.