Jeroen Ren? Victor Anton Dijsselbloem, allegedly a pig farmer with aspirations of becoming a PIIGS driver, is visiting Athens today. He has been all gushing with praise over the Greek government’s determination in carrying out difficult policies. He has been all hidden hints, winks and nods, that maybe… just maybe… there may be a sort of a haircut. And maybe… just maybe, banks will be recapitalised directly and the expense will not be loaded on top of the already horrific debt load. Maybe. Just maybe.
He said nothing about what the programme has achieved still less about why it has not only not achieved much, but completely failed. He has not said anything about how the programme is directly responsible for the overwhelming level of unemployment, the horrendous shrinking of GDP, or anything else of prime importance you would have thought should be the concern of the head of the Eurogroup. No.
Well, that is not what he is here for. He is here to give The Frau (who was directly responsible for his appointment to such a lofty position despite obvious lack of qualifications and experience) a leg up back into the saddle of the German Chancellorship come September.
All of sudden The Frau has panicked. Despite her well laid out plans and sneaky underhand tactics, her own brew of toxic poison for others has begun to spill over onto her own turf and she is terrified her electorate will say, hey you simply botched things up, as production falls and unemployment begins to rise.
And she can’t have that! Hence the praise for “progress” in Greece. Dijsselbloem chortling on about the Greek government’s stamina as though we are talking about a very long distance runner. The Bild newspaper of “sell the Acropolis” fame all of a sudden discovering that the Greek government are doing a very good job (at what? dare’s one ask?) But what we need to impress upon the German electorate is that: You see it worked! It really did work! Look… Only don’t look too hard, because then you will see the devastation The Frau’s complete and utter mismanagement of the Eurocrisis has wrought.
And they all play along. They all know Greece has been destroyed. But it doesn’t matter. As long as The Frau gets voted in. So we hush reality up and sweep it under the carpet.
At least when Nero fiddled while Rome was burning he thought he was a great creative artist. What does The Frau think she is, I wonder? I know what we think. And perhaps, before long, all her sneaky underhand tactics and one track mind of being in the seat of power for its own sake, may well blow back into her own face.