SPD support for Angie's Post-Democracy 2.0 plan for Greece

Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is fulfilling the worst stereotypes of itself.

Angie's newly-reported proposal to impose Post-Democracy 2.0 on Greece by putting them under the direct control of a budget czar responsible to the EU (read: Angie) is being criticized by the Green Party and Angie's own coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), although their economic position is more reactionary than Angie's, in general. Florian Toncar, head of the FDP Bundestag caucus, is on board with draconian demands on Greek repayment: "Aber die direkte Anordnung von Sparmaßnahmen durch ausländische Vertreter, vorbei an demokratischen Institutionen des Landes, und das zehn Jahre lang - das wird nicht gehen" ("But the direct regulation of austerity measures by foreign deputies, bypassing the democratic institutions of the country, and that for ten years - that won't work"), he said. (Ralph Bollmann and Markus Wehner, Ein Sparkommissar für Griechenland? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 28.01.2012)

Sadly, the democracy-hating spirit of Gustav Noske still lives on among some in the SPD

SPD European Member of Parliament Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, supported Angie's Post-Democracy 2.0 demand, showing he has about the same relationship to democratic principles as Thilo Sarrazin. Such is the moral and political corruption that neoliberalism has achieved in the SPD and too many other nominally left parties over the last 20 years. Bollman and Wehner quotes Schulz:

Zustimmend äußerte sich hingegen der Präsident des Europäischen Parlaments, der SPD-Politiker Martin Schulz. „Griechenland wird damit leben müssen, dass diejenigen, die viel Geld für die Sanierung des Landes geben, an Entscheidungen, wie es verteilt wird, maßgeblich beteiligt sind“, sagte Schulz. Das bedeute „sicher eine zeitlich begrenzte Einschränkung der Souveränität“.

[On the other hand, the President of the European Parliament, the SPD politician Martin Schulz, expressed his support. "Greece will have to live with the fact that those who give a lot of money for the rehabilitation of the country, will have a major say in decisions on how it will be used, said Schulz. That means "certain a reduction of sovereignty for a limited time."]

But Schulz isn't just acting as Angie's bitch on this. He goes on to say the EU may have a few extra coins lying around that they could toss to the Greeks to help them out with some growth project or something.

This worthless gasbag is the President of the European Parliament. He deserves the Gustav Noske prize for being a democracy-hating jerk wearing the brand label of Social Democrat.

The Green caucus leader Jürgen Trittin, like Angie a successful politician from the eastern states, dismissed it more on pragmatic grounds than on principle saying it was strictly to satisfy her own grumps in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and had no chance of being approved by the 27 members of the EU. He seems to assume, reasonably enough, that all 27 EU members including Britain would have to be down with Angie's Greek Post-Democracy 2.0 proposal for it to become official.

So what excuse does Noske disciple Martin Schulz of the SPD have for endorsing this monstrosity of a proposal?

Tags: greece, gustav noske, spd