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Greece loses EU voting power in blow to sovereignty
The European Union has shown its righteous wrath by stripping Greece of its vote at a crucial meeting next month, the worst humiliation ever suffered by an EU member state.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Published: 7:56PM GMT 16 Feb 2010
The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty.
While the symbolic move to suspend Greece of its voting rights at one meeting makes no practical difference, it marks a constitutional watershed and represents a crushing loss of sovereignty.
Leinster shed bottlers tag with brilliant display to dismantle Munster"We certainly won't let them off the hook," said Austria's finance minister, Josef Proll, echoing views shared by colleagues in Northern Europe. Some German officials have called for Greece to be denied a vote in all EU matter until it emerges from "receivership".
The EU has still refused to reveal details of how it might help Greece raise €30bn (£26bn) from global debt markets by the end of June. Investors are unsure whether this is part of Kabuki play of "constructive ambiguity" to pressure Greece and keep markets guessing, or reflects the deep reluctance by Germany to be drawn deeper in an EU fiscal union. Greek bonds sold off as ten-year yields jumped to 6.42pc, but the euro rallied to $1.3765 against the dollar as broader issues resurfaced in currency markets.
Europe's all a flutter over Greece's failure to pay back a mere 0.026 Trillion dollars.
The debt of the United States is a thousand times greater, and that's if you pretend Socialist Security and Medicare aren't ****ting the bed.
But hark! What's this? What are the socialists in charge of Europe saying about Greece?
Tuesday's EU verdict amounted to a thumbs down on Greece's earlier austerity efforts, viewed as too reliant on one-off measures and too light on spending cuts.
Seems...the Europeans have some clue what is needed when a nation is running a deficit.
Why is it that the precise group that is doing it's best to remake America in Europe's image, the Democrats, flatly refuse to even discuss meaningful cuts in federal spending, when that's what their heros in Europe are demanding Greece do?