Eu Tyranny?

[DangerUXD]

With the latest Fiasco in Cyprus, are we teetering on the brink of a new Tyranny in Europe? OK It was the Cypriate government who tried to extract money from their own people but it was EU bullying behind it. It's Like a Mob boss loan sharking a shopkeeper really. How long before they bypass national governments and impose the "tax" themselves directly?

[Gromit]

The troika of the EU, ESB and IMF tried to impose the theft of savings as a condition of a banking bailout.

It was clearly a huge blunder, and the three above are desperately trying to blame each other over who is to blame.

It has been nipped in the bud by the Cypriots rejecting it. I cannot see them attempting it anywhere bigger, the run on the banks would be catastrophic.

[emmie]

gives you a blow by blow account, blunder indeed...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/20/eurozone-crisis-live-cyprus-new-bailout-russia

[youngmafbog]

Well I hope you are right Gromit because if they did then world economies will suffer badly

The run on the Banks could be avoided, in a similar way to the Cyriot Govt that used a Bank holiday and then shut for 2 more days. Once the tax is taken there is little point moving your brass(at least immediately) as the damage is done.

Nothing the bully boy EU does surprises me, particularly when it comes to the Germans. Two world wars and we still dont learn, we have instead a load of liberals still waving a bit pf paper in the air.

[VHG]

More nails in the coffin for the shambolic EU.

How long can it last.

[emmie]

i don't think this is a nail in the coffin, it should be, but it isn't.

[New Judge]

Unfortunately I think you’re quite right, em.

The EU is one of the greatest examples of “The King’s New Clothes” that there ever was. Supposedly intelligent people have been bamboozled into believing (a) that it’s good for them (b) that they cannot live without it and (c) the world will fall in on them if they leave.

So strong are the forces behind it that even events which shake the global markets to the core are shrugged off. Nothing must derail the European project.

Its end will come eventually (as does the end of all artificial empires). But it will not be in our lifetimes and when it comes it will be extremely messy and will probably be accompanied by violence. The only thing this latest fiasco may achieve is to hasten the reformation of the euro. But I’m not even counting on that.

[Gromit]

All this hastens a split in the EU. The prosperous North and the less rich South.

Whether the split heralds a First and Second Division EU or the southern countries leave the EU and the EuroZone and go it alone, we will have to wait and see.

[emmie]

it has long been my concern that this will escalate into wars across Europe, we have seen, or unless one has been hiding under a blanket for years, the emergence of the far right, and not just the so called fools of the EDL, but any number of other groups across Europe. The main lead off is economic deprivation, poverty, large scale unemployment especially amongst the young. It wouldn't take much to set the spark of revolt, those against the EU and it's imposition of it's rules, regulations on Europe's citizen, allied with a gathering dislike, even in some quarters hatred of German led doctrine. Because we supposedly have had peace for 70 years doesn't mean to say it will last, or that the next war if it happens, won't be over the same principles as before..

[youngmafbog]

The original EU did actually help bond war torn countries and I believe did do some good in preventing another kick off.

However, it has grown out of all proportion and in some areas is now virtually a dictatorship by committee, the committee being the Germans.

I am very afraid you could be correct em and once again it will be helped by the blind fools believing nothing will happen in Europe. Unfortunately this time we will not have the visible warning of panzer's piling into Czechoslovakia or Poland. The Germans have already got there by stealth.

[jake-the-peg]

Hilarious

Like a Mob boss loan sharking a shopkeeper - yes in that if the shopkeeper says no his shop is burnt out

If Cyprus says 'No' the EU says OK you're on your own then


I'll tell you what it's like


It's like an alcoholic coming to AA and then discovering that they don't give free whisky with no strings attached!


You think the EU is father Christmas handing out free money to people who've got themselves into difficulty?

I thought you were for fiscal responsibility


I think you blind political hatred for the EU is such that you'll bend and spin anything to make them look like the bad guy


I suppose if they crash out of the Euro you'll blame the EU for that too

[ichkeria]

Furthermore,
Why is it "tyrannical"? The Cypriot government has just said no to it...

[ludwig]

// It's like an alcoholic coming to AA and then discovering that they don't give free whisky with no strings attached! //

// You think the EU is father Christmas handing out free money to people who've got themselves into difficulty? //

Good analogies. I'll use them next time there's a debate on benefit cuts.

[New Judge]

Are you saying then, jake, that Cyprus (and Greece for that matter) would have been in the same dire straits as they are now had they not joined the EU and (more significantly) not adopted the euro?

[emmie]

as Greek friends of mine have pointed out, and these know a deal more than most, the worst thing to have done was adopt the euro, it has caused their economy to flatline.

[ichkeria]

And yet, and yet, these countries don't want to leave the EU, don't want to leave the Euro even.
They are trying to have it both ways, ironically like those who run down the EU.

[pdq1]

The EU idea is now dead. Russia will now come to the aid of this stricken country and it will revert to Cypriot £s and leave the Euro altogether. It could be followed by others in a similar mess.

[DangerUXD]

come on jake, theft of savings? even the Nazi's didn't try that!

[FredPuli43]

Taking a percentage of deposits in a bank is the same, in principle, to the wealth tax which France levies every year. The Nazis may not have done it; did they not prefer to seize the whole lot when Jews were forced out? French governments have been doing it for decades. It's just another form of taxation.

[ichkeria]

Russia is a major part of Cyprus's problems already. It's one, perhaps the sole, reason why they rely so heavily on banking.

Whether Cyprus leeches off Russian money or off EU money, it all amounts to the same thing in the end.

People keep predicting the death of the Euro but it keeps going somehow.

[Canary42]

Theft of savings has just been sanctioned in the UK - the "flat single state pension" to be introduced will be less than some now receive, and these people put additional contributions into the state scheme to achieve their current levels.