Debtocracy Page #2

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are winners because of the Euro.

The competitiveness of EU states

came to vary a lot

and the competitiveness of peripheral

countries fell steadily and systematically behind.

This was directly due to the Euro.

ric Toussaint, president of the Committee

for the Abolition of Third World Debt

-

The crisis in the EU was a result

of the way Europe was integrated.

With Greece, it's like putting

Muhammad Ali

the World Heavyweight Champion,

in the ring with a featherweight boxer

and telling them: Start fighting

and let's see who wins.

Why are the peripheral countries

lagging behind in competitiveness?

Most of all, what causes

this divergence to keep increasing?

The myth of the "lazy periphery"

and "industrious Germany"...

with its "high productivity" is just that.

All the German governments managed

was to declare war

on their own work-force...

and freeze their salaries

for a decade.

Sahra Wagenknecht - Deputy Chairperson, Die Linke

-

In recent years, the nominal increase

in salaries was 7% (in Germany)

while in the Eurozone it was 27%.

This gap logically results in loss

of competitiveness in other countries.

When salaries go down in one country,

while they go up in all the others

it's only natural that the competitiveness

of the German economy is boosted

while the other countries

are unable to follow.

The Eurozone countries are no longer

able to devaluate their currency.

This resulted in the establishment

of a mechanism

which was bound to lead

to the results we have today.

Costas Lapavitsas - Professor in Economics:

-

The loss of competitiveness

manifested itself in two ways

both of which played

a decisive part in the crisis.

Firstly, great deficits occurred

in current transactions.

And Greece had the greatest deficit

of all. When you're unable to compete

your transactions with the rest

of the world result in a deficit.

And Greeces deficit is huge.

But this goes for the other

peripheral countries, as well.

This phenomenon went hand-in-hand

with the accruing of debt.

If you have such deficits,

you must balance them somehow.

In the EU, Greece is the poor relative.

Greece belongs to the European

Continent's semi-peripheral countries.

It's evident that Greece

was bound to accrue national debt

given the circumstances of its

integration into European markets.

I won't even bother with the rumour

that Greeks are lazy.

That's pure racism.

The Eurozone destroys the immune system

of peripheral countries

leaving them exposed

to the global crisis.

The Achilles' heel of those countries

is deficit and debt.

In our case, the debt is rooted

deep in the history of the Greek state.

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