Lisbon Treaty Nailed the Coffin Shut on National Sovereignty in Europe

Greece Faces Intrusive EU Surveillance Amid Reports of a Burgeoning Deficit

Greece is bracing itself for the most intrusive surveillance of any eurozone state since the launch of the single currency, amid reports that the country's budget deficit is spiralling further out of control.

January 4, 2010

Telegraph - Officials from the European Commission and the European Central Bank are on standby for a "monitoring visit" to Athens as soon as they receive word from Greek authorities outlining how they intend to get a grip on public debt.

The Greek financial website Ta Nea reported that last year's deficit may have reached 14.5pc of GDP as a result of plunging tax revenues in the late Autumn, even higher than the 12.7pc "shocker" revealed by the new Hellenic Socialist (PASOK) government in November.

Julian Callow from Barclays Capital said a detailed analysis of budget data shows the deficit had been running at an annual rate of 16pc over the second half of the year.

"The monthly data is even worse than people realise," he said.

The political picture is muddied by ideological disputes within the ruling party. Much of PASOK's old guard thinks the crisis is largely bogus, whipped up by right-wing forces at home and abroad to prevent them from pursuing a Left-wing spending agenda. Some seem determined to provoke Brussels into reacting harshly so that they can more easily deflect blame for cuts onto the EU.

Greece has been under "monthly monitoring" since mid-2009 by the Eurogroup of EU finance ministers, a task delegated to Commission officials. They are effectively policing details of the Greek budget, a policy that takes the Europe into hazardous terrain. It is unclear whether any nation will tolerate such an erosion of fiscal sovereignty for long, though everybody is on best behaviour for the time being.

"There is close cooperation with the European Commission to avoid any danger of rejecting our stability programme, something which would be catastrophic," said Greek government spokesman George Petalotis.

Athens is already facing "correction" under the EU's Article 126 (8). If it fails to assuage the Eurogroup by mid-February, it will face Article 126 (9) and the threat of sanctions: a suspension of (EIB) loans, and ultimately fines.

Both Fitch and Standard & Poor's have cut Greece's debt to BBB+, below the minimum for collateral at the ECB's lending window – once normal levels are restored later this year.

Chris Pryce from Fitch said Greece is at risk of further downgrades if the deficit is raised again.

"Any further revisions will not be welcome. A figure of 14.5pc would certainly give us cause to think," he said.

S&P expects public debt to hit 138pc by 2012, nearing the "snowball" point. The interest spread on Greek 10-year bonds over German Bunds was 235 basis points yesterday, implying a sharp rise in debt service costs if the gap continues.

Athens has promised to cut the deficit by 4pc of GDP next year, hinting yesterday at a further €1bn (£895m) in cuts. It is relying on asset sales, sin taxes, a 90pc levy on bank bonuses, and a clamp-down on tax-evasion – a gimmick that exasperates rating agencies. There are few cuts in the bloated structure of state spending. Mr Pryce said Athens is resorting heavily to "one-off" measures.

Greece has no easy way out. As an EMU member it cannot devalue to regain competitiveness lost during its boom, even though foreign tourists are defecting to cheaper Turkey. A deflation policy may be self-defeating if it causes the real burden of public debt to rise further. The nightmare scenario will occur if the ECB starts raising rates just as Greece slides deeper into slump.

Danske Bank said Greece still has time to avoid default, but only if it takes drastic action to prevent debt rocketing above 200pc of GDP within a decade.

"The current situation is close to becoming unsustainable," it said.

Europe’s Looming Demise

December 30, 2009

Washington Times - "The Europe as you know it from visiting, from your parents or friends is on the verge of collapsing," Geert Wilders said in a speech in the United States last year.

The leader of the Netherlands’ populist Party for Freedom added:

"We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe’s destiny and might send the Continent in what Ronald Reagan called ‘a thousand years of darkness.’ "

And not just Europe, but America as well.

Been to Europe lately? Thought it was bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The passage of the Lisbon Treaty, hailed by President Obama, nailed the coffin shut on national sovereignty in Europe. The people of Europe fought it, but were overwhelmed by their political elites and the lack of American leadership in this age of our rather Marxist, collectivist U.S. president.

Come Jan. 1, 2010, a disastrous and suicidal pact called the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Europe/Mediterranean) goes into effect with little fanfare or examination. It boggles the mind that such a consequential and seismic cultural shift could be mandated and put into play without so much as a murmur from the mainstream media.

Why should Americans care about this? Americans have to care because this global gobbledygook is coming to our shores, thanks to our globalist president.

The European human rights group called Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) has been working tirelessly to expose the mass Muslim immigration plan of the Euro-Med Partnership.

A statement on the SIOE Web site criticizes the secrecy of the process: "It was shocking to hear about the plans and at the same time knowing that Danish politicians and a [cowardly] Danish press - who is otherwise proud to be critical - has told nothing to the Danish people about this project which begins in January.

This also showed clearly at the conference. Only very few politicians showed up and no media. Those politicians who showed up had obviously never heard about the Euro-Mediterranean project.

The goal of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation is to create a new Greater European Union encompassing both Europe and North Africa, with the Mediterranean Sea becoming a domestic Eurabian sea. The goal is to establish a "comprehensive political partnership," including a "free trade area and economic integration"; "considerably more money for the partners" (that is, more European money flowing into North Africa); and "cultural partnership" - that is, importation of Islamic culture into post-Christian Europe.

According to the SIOE, in the Euro-Med plan:

"Europe is to be islamized. Democracy, Christianity, European culture and Europeans are to be driven out of Europe. Fifty million North Africans from Muslim countries are to be imported into the EU."

Skeptical? It's already happening. The British newspaper the Daily Express reported in October 2008 on "a controversial taxpayer-funded 'job centre' " that opened in Mali at that time as "just the first step towards promoting 'free movement of people in Africa and the EU.' Brussels economists claim Britain and other EU states will 'need' 56 million immigrant workers between them by 2050 to make up for the 'demographic decline' due to falling birthrates and rising death rates across Europe."

To offset this decline, a "blue card" system is to be created that will allow card holders to travel freely within the European Union and have full rights to work - as well as the full right to collect welfare benefits.

A Muslim population from Africa moving freely into Europe threatens America. On Christmas Day, a Nigerian Muslim flew from Amsterdam to Detroit and tried to explode a bomb on the plane - after he was allowed to board the plane without a passport. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership will make jihad attacks like this one all the easier.

And once in Europe, Muslims have already begun demanding special privileges and accommodations. IslamOnline reported on Dec. 21 that:

"Muslims activists from 26 European countries have come together to launch the first rights council to enlighten European Muslims about their rights, monitor rising Islamophobia and defend Muslim rights in European courts of law."

Ali Abu Shwaima, a Muslim leader in Italy, explained:

"We think European human rights groups are not doing enough to defend the rights of Muslims. Therefore we thought that we need this new council, especially that all laws and constitutions in Europe respect freedom of religion and oppose all forms of discrimination and racism."

"Islamophobia," "discrimination" and "racism" are all terms Muslims in Europe and America use to confuse people into thinking that the perpetrators of Islamic terrorism are the real victims. And it is working: Mr. Wilders is going on trial in the Netherlands, instead of all the Islamic hate sponsors he is fighting against. It has to be this way, to increase harmony among the Muslim and non-Muslim member states of the Euro-Med Partnership.

This internationalism is already destroying what has made Europe free and great. And now Mr. Obama seems to want to do the same to America.