Greece 'far right' rejects austerity after 'socialists' capitulate!

[ingemann]

I do feel a bit sick of the moralist talk of "punishing" the Greek populace. The real problem is that euro system has been built in a manner, in which such "punishment" is the only enforcement mechanism, its only defense against disintegration. This is not a desirable feature of the eurozone architecture, but, rather, its main flaw.

Most (through some do) don't want to force this on the Greeks, but the Greek economy and government need reforms, and while it would be better for everybody that they was pushed through much much slower, no one expect the Greeks would keep any promises they make for reforms the moment they got the money. Remember this isn't the first time the Greeks is taken in massive mismanangement of their economy and conning the rest of EU, and everytime they have promised that they would make reforms, the moment they got the money, they ran from all those promises. As such the decision have been made to force all the medicin down Greece's throat, while it doesn't have a choice, and hope the patient survive the massive dose.

[ingemann]

Anything more than Greece and Portugal out of the Euro and you likely have a systemic collapse, depression, and lost generation.

Not true. Simply not true.

And if you believe it is true, then the only way out is forward: at the very least, give the European Parliament direct taxation authority over the eurozone member states. Create a powerful European government, politically responsible primarily to the European Parliament. Create pan-European political parties and run elections on European issues. Have the first-rate politicians go into European politics - national politics can survive w/ the young and the second-rate.  Otherwise, this is not going to be sustainable - every crisis will be ending up like this. This is merely the consequence of putting the cart before the horse and going blindly into the monetary integration before the political integration. As it is, the whole architecture is simply unsustainable. Even if it doesn't collapse now, it will eventually.

May I suggest that you throw out the American Constitution tomorrow? because what you suggest would be as likely to happen as the 2nd amendment being removed tomorrow. You have to work with what you have, not what you wish you had. You won't get a parliament which can raise taxes for decades into the future, and yes we have seen some expansion of the EU's power versus the states, but your suggestion is still too radical.

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Yes Germany is more or less the heart of the Euro for the simple reason the it's the main trading partner for the much of the core of the Euro countries.

[ingemann]

You have to work with what you have, not what you wish you had. You won't get a parliament which can raise taxes for decades into the future, and yes we have seen some expansion of the EU's power versus the states, but your suggestion is still too radical.

That was, actually, exactly my point.

BTW, what does US constitution have to do w/ it? I am not an American, in case you wonder ))

It was not clear that it was your point, and as you were lacking a avatar it was not clear that you are not American. As for why I used it as example, what better example than the American constitution to show how hard it is to change EU treaties. For as radical changes as you suggest it would take years of negotiation and several votes (primary in Ireland, Denmark and Sweden but likely also in other member states).