The Scarlet Bailout moment is upon us. Sentiment is turning in Germany against the Euro-periphery bailout as evidenced by the following story from Brussels yesterday. Meanwhile, in a moment of hilarity as the EU approaches collapse, some EU officials are apparently demanding a new and more powerful Lisbon Treaty. Good luck with that.
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EU Bailout Scarlet Letter
GERMANY’S EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER has lent his voice to demands that the national flags of all bailed-out European Union member states be flown at half-mast at EU buildings.
Günther Oettinger told German media last Friday that the move would “be a big deterrent” to those countries – which he called “deficit sinners” – who cannot keep control of their financial affairs, though he admitted that it would “just be a symbol”.
The suggestion would mean that the flags of Ireland, Greece and Portugal would have to be flown at half-mast outside all of the EU’s buildings in Brussels, Strasbourg and elsewhere.
Among Oettinger’s other controversial ideas are that the EU simply take over the power of collecting tax in Greece.
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New Lisbon Treaty
EUROPE’S MAJOR ECONOMIES demanded a replacement for the Lisbon Treaty, creating further fiscal and economic ties between Eurozone countries, Britain’s chancellor George Osborne has revealed.
Osborne told reporters that officials from the European Union, France, Germany and Italy want a new treaty superseding Lisbon – which infamously took several years to negotiate and ratify across the EU – at the weekend’s G7 conference in Marseille.
“I think it is on the cards that there may be a treaty change imposed in the next year or two, beyond what has already been proposed,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Osborne as saying, referring to the agreement already reached about upgrading the EU’s permanent bailout fund.
“This would be for the eurozone – this would be to further integrate the eurozone, [and] further strengthen fiscal integration”.