Berlin has transformed the European Union from a union of democracies into an "empire," imposing its will on the indebted Eurozone periphery, a British analyst notes. Philippe Legrain, a former economic advisor to the president of the European Commission, expressed his growing concerns regarding evident constraints imposed on democracy in the Eurozone by Germany and Brussels.
The author is citing German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who claimed ahead of the Greek elections in January 2015 that "new elections change nothing." And he was right: regardless of their electoral pledges, Greek authorities have been forced to accept the bailout conditions, voiced by the "omnipotent" German finance minister.
The analyst underscored that Greece's issue is not the only one: in almost every election since the financial crisis of 2008 European voters "have thrown out their government, only to be told by Schauble and his Eurozone minions that the new administration must stick to the failed policies that the voters have just rejected."....
Fourth Reich? Sputnik
Eurozone: A Union of Democracies or Berlin's Backyard? Ekaterina Blinova