Two years after the end of WWII, George Orwell said that the only political goal that is worthwhile, is a Socialist United States of Europe. But some, instead of fighting for Orwell's vision, created his nightmares: they united citizens in poverty and austerity, and divided them with neo-nationalism. Once again, Europe is at the crossroads. It has to choose between European civilization and the European Union.









The euro was constructed in Basel, which is where all the bankers are situated. The people on the committee that designed euro were all bankers. This is a monetary system designed to suit the finance system, not to suit the people of Europe.





Before the banks could add the finishing touches, the economic and political elites had to be convinced that they needed the new currency. And they would impose it on the citizens. It was a huge undertaking in need of a gigantic lobby.





The AMUE, the Association for the Monetary Union of Europe is a lobby, was created in 1987. It is basically the offspring of another lobby, the Round Table of Industrialists, which is perhaps the most important lobby in the EU history. The initiative was taken by industries such as Fiat, Philips, Total, etc.





The euro's godfathers were also the godfathers of the financial deregulation in the EU and almost all of them employed by major banks such as Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and big insurance companies.





Everything was ready for the euro to go into circulation. All that was needed, was the politicians' consent to the demands of bankers and businessmen. And this would take place in the Dutch city of Maastricht, the birthplace of the European Union and where the foundations of the new currency were laid.





The Maastricht treaty is based on the ideology that if the government spends it prevents the private sector from spending, and this is not true. We know that the private sector needs the government to spend. Mr. Apple, Steve Jobs, for example, needed the American government to invest in the basic elements of the iPhone in order for him to develop the iPhone as a private product.





The EU institutionally supports the sorts of policies that Margaret Thatcher, of course, is most associated with: deregulation, privatization, cutting taxes on the rich, removing various obligations on big business. So, it is an anti-government ideology and it's deeply embedded in the construction of the eurozone. It's also not just an anti-government ideology, it's an anti-democratic ideology. It's the belief that, actually you cannot trust democracies not to spend money.





As crisis in the eurozone peaked, the EU distanced itself from any kind of democratic control. Power that should be found in the parliament building was at first concentrated in the EU Commission building. From the non-elected commissioners, we went on to the independent bankers in Frankfurt.





Europe has not learned the lesson of what happens when you are trying to impose from above an economic system which causes unemployment to rise. We see the rise of Right-Wing populist parties. We see the fascist appearing from out of the woodwork and we should not be surprised. This is what happened in the 30s. The euro has become a doping for nationalist parties. No one wants that, but this is the reality.





Two years after the end of WWII, George Orwell said that the only political goal that is worthwhile, is a Socialist United States of Europe. But some, instead of fighting for Orwell's vision, created his nightmares: they united citizens in poverty and austerity, and divided them with neo-nationalism. Once again, Europe is at the crossroads. It has to choose between European civilization and the European Union.









From the documentary This Is Not A Coup by Aris Chatzistefanou





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