The infamous physician of Auschwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called “Angel of Death”, conducted experiments on Jewish inmates of the camp in order to draw conclusions about racial differences. Every day he stood with his flawless uniform and polished boots on the spot where prisoners were unloaded from the trains and with his leather stick he divided those who were arriving into two lanes. Around 70 to 80 percent were sent to the left lane. The remaining 20 to 30 percent were ordered to form a line on the right. The first were sent straight to the crematoria. The others were his “lab experiments ”, subjected to extreme conditions in order to measure their endurance.
The allusion with Schaeuble’s visit to Athens is obviously not accidental. I’m not saying Schaeuble is a Nazi. What I am saying is that Germany is once again conducting dangerous experiments by exposing the entire European South to extreme conditions and Greece is already experiencing the effects of this dogmatic insistence.
The arrival of the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has come to put things in place and to put an end to the fantasies of the two-party government coalition of A. Samaras’ New Democracy (liberals) and E. Venizelos’ PASOK (socialists).
Fearing Schaeuble’s reaction the government did not place the issue of a greater debt haircut on the table. Instead the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Mr. Konstantinos Michalos “took the initiative”. Mr. Michalos though received the following answer from Mr. Schaeuble: “Forget the debate about the haircut, it does not do you any good. Since you continue to receive financial aid, any reference on haircuts means that you are liars. Continuing in this direction is not correct.”
That was point number one. Let’s go to Brussels and point number two. The European Commissioner for the Economy Mr. Olli Rehn clarified that there are no thoughts and no room whatsoever for the departure of the Troika, and he was not only referring to the presence of the Troika in Greece. He was rather referring to its presence in the entire Euro area and the financial aid programs in which it has a key role.
The conclusion is quite simple: Put up or shut up! You will pay back every cent that you owe. Let go of your delusions, remember that you have forfeited part of your national sovereignty, continue to pay your taxes in order for the aid program to succeed, and then we see what happens…
The current Greek government has fully come to terms with the German experiment since there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide under the circumstances.
PS1: Those who place their hopes that a possible change of leadership in Germany may lead to a different policy attitude are, the least to say, naive. In October, most likely the German Finance Minister will send the Greeks straight to the “left lane”.
