With the Spanish banks now in line for a bail-out of €100 billion you would think the markets would be delighted. That faith and confidence would return, that Spain’s salvation from economic oblivion has been averted… hip hip hooray!
Not so fast… the markets have not reacted with joy and happiness. The markets may know more about the present deal than the politicians would like them to.
The fact is Spain’s economic woes require much more than €100 billion. If Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Member of the European Parliament, is to be believed, Spain requires € 400 billion. Watch the part of Farage’s speech to the European Parliament, he explains the problem of the Spanish bailout perfectly.
What is more, the bailout may have averted the bankruptcy of Spain’s banking sector in the short term, but it still has not solved the fundamental problems of the Eurozone. Sadly for the countries of the Eurozone, the only way out of their problems is for a polling of sovereign debt and far greater economic and political ties. This would mean a common economic policy, and loss of national sovereignty.
As George Soros warned last week the solution to the problems will very probably see Europe looking like a German Empire, Mr Soros said in his speech in Italy, “It would be a German empire with the periphery as the hinterland,” Well if Germany is to shoulder the debt of it’s neighbours, she will want to call the shots, and determine the economic path of the Eurozone.
The sad irony is that the EU was established in the wake of the second world war , for the precise reason of stopping German might from taking control of Europe- something which tore Europe apart twice in the 20th century. An important lesson from history that Brussels would do well to remember: attempts in Europe’s history to unite the continent under one rule of government has caused wars throughout the centuries: from Hitler to Napolian Bonaparte.