I am not sure if Mr. Juncker was entirely conscious of his words when he spoke at the EU's traditionally undervalued Economic and Social Committee, but I perceived his statement on the occasion of long terms policy guidelines as potentially historical.
He literally stated that "on a peché" against the dignity of peoples in Greece, Portugal and Ireland and are to learn from the past to avoid the same mistakes, questioning the (democratic) legitimacy of the troika triangle and pointing towards a too passive predecessor who had his political career in the country Germany is now using as a show case. Back in junk creditworthy rated Portugal people continue affirming and denying their government's unsovereign submissiveness, with a touch of envy of the apparent pride parading of Greek counterparts.
It will have been a Rotschild descendant who proclaimed something around the lines "give me access to a country's money supply and I shall not care about who makes its laws". That was in the midst of the 19th century, more or less around the time that the Pan-German Alldeutsche Bewegung or the German Question, supported by very long term demographic research, ceased being secretive and started taking shape in society at large (and I suggest to any reader to google it up to what human disaster that movement led into the following century).
Today, Mr Wolfgang Schäuble is pursuing the functions of his mandate as much as Mr Tsiparis and both are limiting themselves within the boundaries of their electorate's interest, that is with a responsibility only towards their own country, with hardly any room for some multilateral European sharing environment. In a modern world, power also comes with accountability and I sense a spreading sense of frustration at all levels within Europe towards the burden of responsibility that Germany has been hiding from.
When we think of Germany, we do remember because we must, but really try to forget the dominant role it has played in relative recent history and prefer to pinpoint its contribution in science and industry along with the effects that continues to have on business, trade and even culture. The size of German enterprise and the extent of foreign investment, within a global economy then tend to cloud our views of how much of an introvert country or society Germany really is, especially if compared to the world wide colonizing empires that it has had its territorial military conflicts with.
The 4 months very conditioned extension Greece has been given is far from slicing a Gordian's knot, but probably time enough for Tsiparis "The Great" to continue his guerilla resistance to conquest sufficient international public and political support for the Greek cause, in order to reshape some of the conventional thinking that we have rather become bored with over the last 4 years. Poli kala!
With that being said, Yanis, come on man .... even if you believe that Karl Marx's is referring to capitalists in his quote on the good intentions on the road to hell, the paper you handed in early today (in accordance with Greek time but just before midnight as per Mr Dijsselbloem's time zone) only has two numbers, 56% referring to non-personnel expenditures and the number 10 in terms of ministries to remain.
If any academic or professional would handover this to me as a performance or business plan I too would send them back home for some more work or just maybe forget about it and go out for a drink and just talk about the joys of life.
2015-02-24
2015-02-16
We are all Norwegians
Some pretty powerful words were chosen by the 6 heads of European states gathered in Rome on 25 March 1957 to describe their feel for a (joint) future, such as "determination", "decision", "desire" , "resolve", "direction" to write up an appeal for an ever closer union and balanced trade among the European peoples, eliminating barriers which divide them and improving living and working conditions and to ensure harmonious development by reducing the existing differences between the various regions and by mitigating the backwardness of the less favoured.
They signed for it and as the democratically and legally empowered signatories that would bind them on complying with the 248 articles (and subsequent revisions in Maastricht, Nice and Lisbon).
Only 2 years later the EEC and Greece concluded an association agreement and a further 3 years ahead, the next wave of applicants lodged their official intent to co-sign, which took 10 years, with the exception of Norway who decided not to ... lucky bastards. There have been times before 2008 where a majority of the Norwegian population would have favoured joing the EU, but that certainly has inverted and apparently any coalition agreement since dictates that new EU membership negotiation requires immediate new elections first. Interesting. Norway has been opting in and out of transnational law pieces since and they seem to be doing just fine.
Much of what Greece has been tabling these day has to do with those 1957 fundamentals and that then does include some harsh references to what had caused nations to come together at the time as the only way forward to avoid a return of warfare and xenophobia. The very EEC accession of Greece was arguably forced or perhaps rushed in order to avoid a clawback to the military regime or sidetrack to communism, while Turkey invaded Cyprus.
Already at the time transformation and aid programmes were put in place to literally overcome the geo-social and economic distance between Greece and the other 9 member states. What has (not) happened since we now all know. So now what?
Now, Greece is regarded as dispensable and in absence of boardgame rules, the majority of players is getting set to send Greece back to start or scratch and recommence accession negotiations if it so desires, whether for full membership or piece-by-piece item.
In time, Greece will probably gain a stronger sense of belonging amongst surrounding neighbours who the EU also does not really want to (fully) onboard either and in particular Turkey. That does not withstand that the founding and joined member states are in violation of a treaty and also does not resolve the continuing gap between politicians and growing numbers of populations in what continues legally together.
I do hope that the Greek effort to have national and transnational institutions run by us all once more what did effectively go wrong, will continue, and would welcome individual politicians to be given the appropriate credit as well as debit for their policy making.
They signed for it and as the democratically and legally empowered signatories that would bind them on complying with the 248 articles (and subsequent revisions in Maastricht, Nice and Lisbon).
Only 2 years later the EEC and Greece concluded an association agreement and a further 3 years ahead, the next wave of applicants lodged their official intent to co-sign, which took 10 years, with the exception of Norway who decided not to ... lucky bastards. There have been times before 2008 where a majority of the Norwegian population would have favoured joing the EU, but that certainly has inverted and apparently any coalition agreement since dictates that new EU membership negotiation requires immediate new elections first. Interesting. Norway has been opting in and out of transnational law pieces since and they seem to be doing just fine.
Much of what Greece has been tabling these day has to do with those 1957 fundamentals and that then does include some harsh references to what had caused nations to come together at the time as the only way forward to avoid a return of warfare and xenophobia. The very EEC accession of Greece was arguably forced or perhaps rushed in order to avoid a clawback to the military regime or sidetrack to communism, while Turkey invaded Cyprus.
Already at the time transformation and aid programmes were put in place to literally overcome the geo-social and economic distance between Greece and the other 9 member states. What has (not) happened since we now all know. So now what?
Now, Greece is regarded as dispensable and in absence of boardgame rules, the majority of players is getting set to send Greece back to start or scratch and recommence accession negotiations if it so desires, whether for full membership or piece-by-piece item.
In time, Greece will probably gain a stronger sense of belonging amongst surrounding neighbours who the EU also does not really want to (fully) onboard either and in particular Turkey. That does not withstand that the founding and joined member states are in violation of a treaty and also does not resolve the continuing gap between politicians and growing numbers of populations in what continues legally together.
I do hope that the Greek effort to have national and transnational institutions run by us all once more what did effectively go wrong, will continue, and would welcome individual politicians to be given the appropriate credit as well as debit for their policy making.
2015-02-15
It's not all we need but ...
A reasonable amount of years of experience of being loved, falling in and out of love with people and places, public and private causes, making love and attempting to teach to love, and now, for the very first time this burning desire came over me to investigate what Mr Valentine would have done to become such a worshipped man, to only find out that even the Roman Catholic Church says to be uncertain of his doings.
Valentinus would have lived before the fundamentals of canon law were first set in 325 and will have been beheaded on a 14 February, on the order of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius (II) for violating his prohibition against (Christian) wedding ceremonies distracting much needed soldiers in the victorious military campaign against Germania.
Eventually the Church of England did adopt a day for Valentinus, arguably to introduce a much more individual romantic perspective surrounding the relationship between women and men in rebellion against the Roman fertility fest of Lupercalia to simply promote procreation for the benefit of a wider community. The Orthodox Church known for glorifying all saints, has come to designate 6 July as Valentine's Day.
So that's where the notion of love starts to split between different cultural perspectives, or perhaps the differences were already in place long before, but simply oppressed by overwhelming religious rules in all arenas, away from those who knew how to read and write history.
Many wars have been fought and avoided since in the name of love for someone or something. Whereas different parts of the world progress in their own pace and level of freedom, pretty much everywhere religious or otherwise community fundamentals are gradually side tracked in the manner wherein people seek to connect between each other. Some parts of the world have come accustomed to much more liberal manners in the way friendships (are allowed to) evolve whereas people in other places still appear to be struggling with moral restraints behind high and old borders and it appears to be always in the latter where legal and economic systems show to be chasing the facts relevant for individuals.
I have no intention to be a broken John Lennon or Bob Marley record and am certainly a chivalry defender of cultural sovereignty and tradition but also admire the pursuit of individual self-government. I also believe in reaching out a helping hand, maybe even turning the other cheek every now and do not turn away for the relevance of thriving love for material matters.
Let's go out more often, shall we ? There is a world out there, which can be wonderful if we want it to be.
Valentinus would have lived before the fundamentals of canon law were first set in 325 and will have been beheaded on a 14 February, on the order of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius (II) for violating his prohibition against (Christian) wedding ceremonies distracting much needed soldiers in the victorious military campaign against Germania.
Eventually the Church of England did adopt a day for Valentinus, arguably to introduce a much more individual romantic perspective surrounding the relationship between women and men in rebellion against the Roman fertility fest of Lupercalia to simply promote procreation for the benefit of a wider community. The Orthodox Church known for glorifying all saints, has come to designate 6 July as Valentine's Day.
So that's where the notion of love starts to split between different cultural perspectives, or perhaps the differences were already in place long before, but simply oppressed by overwhelming religious rules in all arenas, away from those who knew how to read and write history.
Many wars have been fought and avoided since in the name of love for someone or something. Whereas different parts of the world progress in their own pace and level of freedom, pretty much everywhere religious or otherwise community fundamentals are gradually side tracked in the manner wherein people seek to connect between each other. Some parts of the world have come accustomed to much more liberal manners in the way friendships (are allowed to) evolve whereas people in other places still appear to be struggling with moral restraints behind high and old borders and it appears to be always in the latter where legal and economic systems show to be chasing the facts relevant for individuals.
I have no intention to be a broken John Lennon or Bob Marley record and am certainly a chivalry defender of cultural sovereignty and tradition but also admire the pursuit of individual self-government. I also believe in reaching out a helping hand, maybe even turning the other cheek every now and do not turn away for the relevance of thriving love for material matters.
Let's go out more often, shall we ? There is a world out there, which can be wonderful if we want it to be.
2015-02-04
Stoessel for President
Yes I was one of the hundreds of thousands of parents that stood in line multiple hours on an early morning in order to conquer my fair share of tickets for The Violetta Tour, no less than 5 months in advance. Anything for my little girl at home where she has mounted a wall and stuffed shelves and drawers in devotion to Ms Martina Stoessel, age 17, singer and actress (and student I trust).
The way I see it, if Disney driven entertainment is unavoidable at this age, it might as well impulse some sing-along rhythm in a latino language, away from the usual US or Japanese produce.
I always have had a childish weakness for South-America, despite or perhaps thanks to its dos pasos adelante um paso atrás progress and Argentina is then certainly a consistent place of passionate potential. It is bothersome, to say the least, to see what once was one of the world's most developed and fashionable countries, to arrive into such a constant struggle for a balance between modern economics and populist movements, but generally always dependent on the egos of leading politicians who consciously or not restrain a nation from voiding its geographic distance with the rest of the world.
The most recent suspicions on Cristina Fernandez, wife of the former president, surrounding the murder of a state prosecutor in turn linked to a terrorist attack 20 years ago, along with all the plausible cover-ups promise to come to have all the soap opera ingredients for yet another major paso atrás.
So while back in the old world, Europeans see rising mixes of emotions towards the potential contagency of pop-politicians shaking up the establishment, from anything between the way they dress to the way a country and its population should be financed, I wonder if there is room for the rebellion to reach overseas territories where generally younger populations (no reference to rabbit behaviour) are in a higher need for a break through.
I think the time is right for some Violetta-ism to overrule the decades of Peronism, Menemism and Kirchnirsm and propose the presidential candidacy of Martina Stoessel to bring Argentina back to the place it once held on the world stage, before the word recession in today's meaning struck the planet.
That would also be a much prettier sight than on some wrecking ball in the near future and would thus also make my daughter and all here friends, as well as the Sumo Pontífice, much happier. Everybody wins.
The way I see it, if Disney driven entertainment is unavoidable at this age, it might as well impulse some sing-along rhythm in a latino language, away from the usual US or Japanese produce.
I always have had a childish weakness for South-America, despite or perhaps thanks to its dos pasos adelante um paso atrás progress and Argentina is then certainly a consistent place of passionate potential. It is bothersome, to say the least, to see what once was one of the world's most developed and fashionable countries, to arrive into such a constant struggle for a balance between modern economics and populist movements, but generally always dependent on the egos of leading politicians who consciously or not restrain a nation from voiding its geographic distance with the rest of the world.
The most recent suspicions on Cristina Fernandez, wife of the former president, surrounding the murder of a state prosecutor in turn linked to a terrorist attack 20 years ago, along with all the plausible cover-ups promise to come to have all the soap opera ingredients for yet another major paso atrás.
So while back in the old world, Europeans see rising mixes of emotions towards the potential contagency of pop-politicians shaking up the establishment, from anything between the way they dress to the way a country and its population should be financed, I wonder if there is room for the rebellion to reach overseas territories where generally younger populations (no reference to rabbit behaviour) are in a higher need for a break through.
I think the time is right for some Violetta-ism to overrule the decades of Peronism, Menemism and Kirchnirsm and propose the presidential candidacy of Martina Stoessel to bring Argentina back to the place it once held on the world stage, before the word recession in today's meaning struck the planet.
That would also be a much prettier sight than on some wrecking ball in the near future and would thus also make my daughter and all here friends, as well as the Sumo Pontífice, much happier. Everybody wins.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)