Normally, European politics is excruciatingly boring. I mean, these are the people who felt the best way to unite their continent into one strong, unified entity was to write a constitution that was about as long and dense as the result of a dictionary and a technical manual reproducing. Ever since they decided it was probably a good idea to stop attempting to annihilate each other every generation or two, I kind of tuned out. Other than the odd sex scandal or particular notable speech, I stay only as abreast as needed to do my job.
But every so often, the Europeans find it within themselves to do something interesting. The most recent example: Greece, teetering on the brink of economic and perhaps political collapse, now has all their hopes riding on a massive bailout by the richest European nation. The Greeks, reaching back into their cultural history to the days of logic and open democratic debate, have decided that the appropriate way to make sure this happens is to stick out their tongue at Germany and taunt them by chanting, "Nananana "” you guys were NAZIS!"
It seems that the hardworking German people, having already spent the last 20 years hurling fistfulls of money over the line once marked by the Iron Curtain, don't particularly feel like taking on another decrepit basketcase of a so-called economy. Upgrading East Germany from a society circa 1962 to something approximating modern, if surly, was enough for them, and the rank and file German (West German, really, but what's a polarizing geopolitical identifier among friends) citizens aren't too keen on saving Greece from its own sense of entitlement and steadfast refusal to modernize its economy and tax policies. The bailout will probably happen "” there is legitmate concern that if Greece were to go down, it could effectively destory the Eurozone economic policy that underpins the entire European Union. Gee...wouldn't that be a shame...
The Greek Deputy Prime Minister, Theodoros Pangalos, seeking to defuse the situation and elevate the tone of the debate, went on a talk radio show and blamed Greece's complete dysfunction on "” drumroll "” the Nazis! Specifically, the Nazi occupation of Greece which lasted from 1941 to 1945, and saw much of Greece's assets, both industrial and hard-currency, taken to fund the Nazi war effort. Greece has never been able to recover since, sniffed Pangalos, and the Germans never really did pay them back for that inconvenience.
The Germans are having none of it, pointing out that they paid reparations to Greece until the early 1960s and also compensated those Greek citizens dragooned into war labour by the Nazis. Further, Germany has pointed out that it has given Greece roughly €16.5-billion in bi-lateral and pan-European aid since then. The German claim to the high ground was somewhat eroded (Well, eroded further, they were Nazis, after all) when a German magazine photoshopped an image of the famous Venus de Milo statute giving Europe a one-fingered salute, with the accompanying article calling the Greeks "the cheats of Europe." To that, the feisty Greek Deputy PM retorted that the Germans have no business accusing Greeks of stealing from Europeans. Zing!
So now the Greek people are calling for boycotts against German goods and the Germans are calling for a refusal to bail out the Greeks. In the abstract, I think that the Germans are probably going to win that fight (much like how they conquered the whole country before) because I don't think the German economy is going to notice much if the bankrupt Greeks stop buying their goods (which they'll have to do soon, anyway, because they're bankrupt, remember?).
Just goes to show you how interesting Europe can be when they try. The Germans are a mite touchy about their ubernationalist genocidal path, and the Greeks are astonished "” astonished, I say! "” that their country, with a corrupt government, a tax code that sees almost no one pay tax, that regularly cooks its books and runs massive deficits as a matter of course and flies into anarchist and socialist rages at the mere mention of maybe trying to pass some reforms to staunch the bleeding, might possible draw some ire from the people who'll have to bail them out. It takes a lot to make the Germans look like the sane, rational ones in any international dispute. The Greeks, though, are managing capably.
Oh, and one last thing "” isn't it nifty how other countries utterly destroyed by World War II, like, say, Germany, for example, aren't economic disasters? Interesting, that. Maybe a lesson there for the Greeks, assuming no one has disconnected their internet service yet, leaving them unable to read it.
National Post
mgurney@nationalpost.com
Matt Gurney is a member of the National Post Editorial Board.
Matt seems a little skeptical about the Greeks, their economy, their attitude, their [your angle here].
Maybe that's why the song says "the Greeks don't want no freaks"; they've got WAY to many already.
Socialists breed stupid, and Greece is apparently suffering from too much of that. Socialism, I mean.
Greece is a good example of where a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy has made tax evasion an honorable and acceptable practice. A bailout won´t change anything as all the politicians are in denial. It´s the size and influence of the state that has to change (be reduced). Politicians don´t have the guts to do it. There are other states along the Mediterranean in exactly the same position. Spain and Portugal also have politicians that deny reality. The modern nanny state is not sustainable. Europe is learning the hard way.
Stephen Harper listen carefully. Time to cut our bureaucracy now.
LOL a great whitty op-ed Matt, to funny.
Greece need not worry Eurabia is going down the Nazi/socialists' path again, they learned nothing from history hang in their Greece maybe you can profit from the socialists/communist agenda this time around.
Whilst the Iron Curtain was in place, Greece was able to blackmail the rest of the free world, particularly free Europe, into subsidising its corruptness and ineptness---now, if Greece was abruptly weaned off the European teats, it would have to stand on its own feet and experience the life style that it deserves and hasn't experienced in a generation.
Greece needs another Pericles with a dash of Ataturk to grab it by its lapels and drag it into the 21 st Century---sadly there doesn't seem to be any statesmen in view....only common garden self serving politicians.
"Normally, European politics is excruciatingly boring. ... I stay only as abreast as needed to do my job."
Yeah, well, Matt, given your biography, you probably think that Leaside is a more interesting place than Rome, or the GTA than London or Paris.
Why don't you just crawl back in whatever hick hole you crawled out of and leave international politics to grownups?
"Matt Gurney is a print and broadcast journalist, speaker, and historian living in the Toronto-area. Born in Leaside, he has spent most of his life in the GTA"
Beware of those bearing gifts to the Greeks.
Proves that if you want to be successful, first you need to differentiate winning from whining.
The Greek unions are on strike protesting perk cutbacks. In the end Germany will bail them out to protect the EU and a tanking Euro. Soon they will looking at Goldman Sachs for a supplementary handout. When I see striking unions essentially making the situation worse, resulting in cash donations from others, I think of how often a tail wags the dog. Karzai wags NATO's war effort knowing NATO is stuck with him. Quebec wags the ROC with separatist threats and block support to a Fed party that cooperates and gives.
Greece is the canary in the coal mine. It may be the worst of a bad bunch but there are more who have gotten used to the EU welfare system which is not unlike our equalization scheme to some extent.
History shows we often don't learn well from past behaviours and are suffered to repeat them.
Equalization is nothing more than welfare in Canada and we have no guts to remove it. Now you have a better picture of Europe and their policies which have been ongoing for a very long time.
Look at Italy, and Ireland in addition to others that have been mentioned. Corruption is not limited to Greece.
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