Our way on a referendum or the Hellenic highway out!

"There's your answer, George!", says Evangelos

Not content with berating George Papandreou on his chancy referendum, the dynamic duo, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, now say he can only have one line in the proposed referendum. That is "Does Greece stay in the Eurozone or leave it?". Nothing about bailouts or bossy foreign leaders. Of course, the Greeks do have a lot to blame for this themselves. Never very good at balancing the books, they profess loyalty to the idea of being in the Eurozone but have little understanding of how to spend or save euros judiciously. And now the referendum hangs in the balance as the Greek parliament decides on whether to give Papandreou a vote of confidence. Finance minister Evangelos Venizelos has given George Papandreou's plans for a referendum on the euro a resounding "NO". Maybe he has plans?

But Greece's present difficulty isn't my beef with this horrendous mess we are in. No, I can't stand the lack of democratic process. The EU is an edifice built up on the whims and fancies of political leaders rather than the hopes and desires of the people. When the people do get a say, they are expected to say "YES" to the political masters and mistresses in everything they do.

So I have no issue with the Greek people having their say. The European Union is not a "common market" anymore. The playing field is not level. Mrs Merkel and President Sarkozy have assumed some form of leadership over us all. Who gave them such power and prestige? Probably Rumpuy Pumpuy in a rubber stamping operation! We do not have a common market as far as retailing is concerned. For example, a lot of French merchandise is far cheaper in France than in Britain. How come French mustard is three times more expensive in British supermarkets than in French ones. I hear Carrefour may be coming back via Ocado's website. Any chance we can be less cheesed off with the prices?

This is no digression on my part. It is symptomatic of the whole problem. There is political union without a proper political mandate. There is legal union, but virtually no European has properly agreed to this except the elite in Brussels. There is supposed to be economic union and free movement of labour, yet some countries are more equal than others. If anyone complains, we are told it's all an evolutionary process. Monkeys did better with that!

And on top of all this there is a single currency WITHOUT a single fiscal policy. Doomed to failure from day one. Mismanagement, poor judgement, bad leadership and a total disregard for democracy.

Posted in: Angela Merkel,EU single market,Euro,George Papandreou,Greece,Greek bailout,Nicolas Sarkozy