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The somersaults of the Euroliberals over Germany and gas

The somersaults of the Euroliberals over Germany and gas

Theses and contradictions on Germany and gas. The italics by Giuseppe Liturri

Today is 30 September, but it is as if it were 8 September 1943, the day of the "break the lines" followed by the hasty flight of the King and Badoglio to Brindisi.

This is the impression that one gets when reading the reactions of the best standard bearers of the "European dream" – in no particular order among Corriere della Sera , other journalists and Twitter – to the decision announced by the German government led by Olaf Scholz to launch an aid plan from 200 billion, to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis.

A chorus of indignation has started in which we go from "solidarity at risk" (but when was there ever?), "Berlin errors" and even "Dutch bullying". All seasoned with the "wrath of Draghi" (that must never be lacking!) And threats of retaliation against the hungry people of the Italic people by the neo sovereignists of the gauche caviar.

We admit that the nervousness is a lot. Today's Energy Council will not decide anything on the famous gas cap coveted since April. And we understand that it is hard to wake up from the dream and make contact with the reality that we have been describing for years: European solidarity does not exist, or rather it only belongs to the dreams of an Italian elite that has crowded the corridors of Brussels in the last 30 years, believing themselves to be better than the rest of the country and arrogating to themselves the right to choose everyone's destiny. They did so by flattening themselves to the wishes of the majority shareholders of the EU (Germany and France) in the face of all the decisive choices. From budgetary policy, to the discipline of the banking sector and state aid: there is no dossier from which punitive solutions for the interests of the country have not emerged. Today they wake up and realize that in the EU everyone has their own interests, almost always to the detriment of others. Cooperative solutions are a rare commodity.

And they react by swerving conspicuously. Suddenly regaining his voice, after having remained silent in the face of the nationalization of the French energy giant EDF. The review – the many who will not be able to mention will forgive us – starts from Professor Giampaolo Galli, economist and former deputy of the Democratic Party – according to which “no one prevents a country from spending what it wants. We have done it more than Germany in the last two years ”. Thus, at least ten years of European rules built after the crisis of 2011-2012 end up in the trash, precisely in order to coordinate budgetary policies and, even more so, the macroeconomic balances between the various Member States. A long coordination cycle (European Semester) that starts in October, with the sending of the budget law to the Commission and ends in July of the following year, with the Commission's country recommendations, adopted by the Council of Heads of Government. Nothing true, all canceled. From today, everyone for himself and God for everyone. Told by those who until yesterday professed to be a surly defender of European rules – coincidentally when it would have been Italy's turn to respect them – makes a bit of an impression (euphemism intended).

But how can we overlook the reaction of another prestigious exponent of the country's "best youth" like Professor Franco Bassanini? With a double tweet, a new San Paolo electrocuted on the road to Damascus, he discovers that the German maneuver is "a massive state aid distorting competition" and remembers the interests of the Italian industry (yes, precisely the one weakened by years of politics restrictive budget regulations and related unsustainable fiscal pressure, desired by Brussels) and hopes that Germany is more in favor of a revision of the Stability Pact. Admitted and not granted that this happens, it is curious to note that Bassanini invokes looser budget rules which, in any case, should be accompanied by the concrete possibility of issuing debt, covered by a Central Bank that does not turn away. But we realize we are expecting too much. We add to the review, in the section “we will break Germany's backs”, Oscar Giannino who praises Draghi who “responds immediately to Germany”, with tones that seem to herald the withdrawal of the ambassador from Berlin and the delivery of the declaration of war.

If there were no crying, there would be just so much to laugh.


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/le-capriole-degli-euroliberisti-su-germania-e-gas/ on Fri, 30 Sep 2022 10:15:37 +0000.