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What’s least noted is that the countries of Europe for a long time are no longer ruled by democratically legitimate institutions but by the horde of abbreviations that have usurped them. Where it's going is spelled out by EFSF, ESM, ECB, EBA and IMF. Only experts can puzzle out these acronyms.
Not just that: the who, what and how of decisions in the European Commission and the Eurogroup are revealed to insiders only. What all these “facilities” have in common is that they are not mentioned in any Constitution anywhere in the world, and that no voter has the slightest say in their decisions.
The equanimity with which the inhabitants of our small continent have accepted their political ouster seems a little eerie. This may be because it is a historical novelty. Unlike the revolutions, coups d'état and military putsches that European history is so rich in, this is happening to us silently and without violence. No torchlight processions, no parades, no barricades, no tanks. Everything is playing out calmly in the back room.
Abolition of the rule of law
That no heed is paid to treaties surprises no one. Existing rules such as the principle of subsidiarity in the Treaties of Rome or the no-bailout clause from Maastricht are being undermined at will. The principle of Pacta sunt servanda (“Agreements must be kept”) is reduced to an empty phrase dreamed up by some legal fussbudgets of antiquity.
The abolition of the rule of law is proclaimed openly in the ESM treaty. The decisions of the controlling members of this rescue team are effective directly under international law and are not bound to the approval of parliaments. As was customary in the old colonial regimes, they call themselves governors and they are, just like directors, not accountable to the public. On the contrary, they are expressly sworn to secrecy. This is reminiscent of the Omerta, which is part of the code of honour of the Mafia. Our own Godfathers are beyond any judicial or legislative control. They enjoy a privilege that not even a boss of the Camorra deserves: absolute immunity from criminal prosecution. (It is written down in Articles 32 to 35 of the ESM treaty.)
And so the political dispossession of the citizenry has, for the moment, reached its climax. It started out much earlier, at the latest with the introduction of the euro. This currency is a result of political horse-trading that has meted out punishment indifferently to all the economic preconceptions of such a project.
What metaphors politicians adorn themselves with, whether they baptise their latest shapeshifter a “rescue umbrella” (a bailout), a bazooka, Big Bertha, eurobonds, fiscal-, banking- or debt union, does not matter: when they have to reach into their pockets, the people will finally wake up from their political siesta. Sooner or later, they suspect, they will have to answer for everything that the rescuers have wrought.
The number of possible options is limited. The simplest way to liquidate the debt – and savings – is through inflation. Tax hikes, pension cuts and compulsory levies may also be considered, however. As a last resort, currency reform may even be on the table – a proven method of punishing small savers to shield the banks and shrug off the obligations of state budgets.
Original article, "Die politische Enteignung der Europäer", Copyright © 2012 DER HAUPTSTADTBRIEF