John Redwood, MP — The Greek people voted against austerity – why is the EU ignoring this?

Worse still, where are the voices on the left who share my outrage that Greek democracy is overridden or ignored by the EU authorities? What part of the Greek condemnation of austerity policies did the EU not understand? The left and I might not agree on what would propel Greece back to prosperity. What I think the remedy for the Greek economy might be is less relevant, as I am neither a voter nor an adviser to the government. Where we should agree is that the single-minded policy of cuts in the public sector, membership of the euro, strict monetary and banking controls, and an uncompetitive exchange rate is not working and needs revision....

Were the EU truly democratic, or were it still an association of democratic states, it would listen to Greek voters – the voters who have already crushed the parties of government that presided over the crisis. The tragedy is that they seem to have no impact on the rest of the EU, which now holds the fate of the Greek people in its hands. It is not just the Greek economy that faces a major challenge, Greek democracy itself is on trial.

Rather than saying, "Greek democracy itself is on trial," I would put it that democracy in the EZ and EU are on trial given the institutional arrangements and a neoliberal leadership that doesn't value democracy and sees it as an obstacle to economic liberalism based on propertarianism. The Guardian | Comment Is Free The Greek people voted against austerity – why is the EU ignoring this?  John Redwood

ht Neil Wilson