Germany vs Greece... In Perspective

Yesterday the German and Greek national soccer teams met for the Euro 2012 quarter final match. "Kick the Germans Out of the Euro" blasted one Greek newspaper. Greece national pride was at stake... what's left of it. Like the Russians-- who the Greeks beat-- Germany was favored to win. Unlike the Russians, though-- and unlike the outcome in the Monty Python skit above-- the Germans won. Outside of Germany, and perhaps Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters, the world was cheering for Greece. Greece will need that goodwill next week, when the new corporate-backed pro-Austerity government begs Germany to lighten up a little on the overly harsh Austerity-mania that has caused massive unemployment and social dislocation from one end of Greece to the other.

People are tempted to recall the brutal Nazi occupation of Greece (1941-44, in which Germany wrecked the Greek economy, something at the root of Greece's current problems) but Merkel has more in common with Othon, Greece's first king (1832). Othon was actually Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig, a young Bavarian who the Great Powers presented to the Greeks after independence from the Ottoman Empire. Plagued by financial woes in the new-born kingdom, he ruled as an absolute monarch, something that proved unpopular with the Greeks, who forced him to grant a constitution 10 years after he and his gang of Bavarians (the "Bavarocracy") took over. Britain, which was then what Germany aspires to today, and the Rothschild bank (a kind of a Wall Street/Bankenstadt in it's time), who were underwriting the Greek loans were-- believe it or not-- demanding... Austerity. The Greeks quickly found themselves paying higher taxes than they did under the Ottomans, much of the money going to pay-- you guessed it-- exorbitant interest from the foreign banksters. Eventually the Greeks rose up and kicked Otto out of the country.

Today the German banksters are pissed off that the Greeks aren't... German enough. Germany has set all sorts of fiscal and economic targets for them and the Greeks, they think, aren't trying hard enough to meet them fast enough. Most Germans want to kick Greece out of the Eurozone. Although the Greeks work longer hours than Germans do, the German people consider Greeks lazy and shiftless. Greeks are getting sick of the German's and more and more of them are ready for an Otto-like break. A recent Pew poll shows that 78% of Greeks have an unfavorable opinion of Germany and 84% think Angela Merkel is doing an especially unfortunate job dealing with the current economic debacle.

And Alexis Tsipras' Syriza isn't the only political party rallying Greeks who are fed up with Austerity and the Germans. Less than 4 months ago the Independent Greeks formed as a party in the village of Distomo, where Nazi troops massacred 218 locals in 1944 and one of the party’s main policies is to demand reparations from Germany for the Nazi crimes during World War II. They certainly got more votes than the local Nazi Party (Golden Dawn) and have 20 deputies in the new Parliament. The spirit of the soccer match in Poland yesterday wasn't too lovey-dovey between Germans and Greeks.

For Greeks, Germany now represents austerity and foreign diktats. For Germans, the Greeks represent tax-dodging wastrels looking for handouts. “Goodbye Greeks,” declared the front page of the daily newspaper Bild on Friday; the paper has previously published calls for Greek islands and even the Acropolis to be sold. “Today we can’t rescue you.”

...Every time Ms. Merkel appeared on the giant monitors in the stadium here, cheering Germany on, the blue-clad Greeks booed and whistled with gusto.“This is a football game, but it also has a political message,” said Giorgos Helakis, 48, the editor of Sport Day newspaper in Greece, who came to Gdansk for the match. Sport Day on Friday ran the headline “Bankrupt them!”

In Germany, there is frustration over what is perceived as insults in exchange for assistance. Nazi taunts at protests and in newspapers against the Germans, who invaded Greece during World War II, have not gone unnoticed in Berlin.

The new Greek pro-Austerity coalition, hopes to walk a tightrope between the Greek people and the Germans/banksters. Earlier today the coalition, in preparation for talks next week with creditors, announced it would basically beg to be allowed to suspend some layoffs in the public sector (150,000 jobs), end union-busting measures that the IMF is trying to impose, reverse cuts in the minimum wage and to unemployment benefits (the European Central Bank-- in other words, the Germans-- are demanding that unemployment benefits last only one year, not two), and suspend the harsher austerity measures the Germans are demanding. According to The Guardian, Angela Merkel "has made it clear that she has no intention of renegotiating the Greek package, which was agreed in February after weeks of talks-- though Europe's leaders may fear the reaction of Greece's voters if they fail to offer them anything."

Simon Derrick, currency strategist at BNY Mellon, pointed out that Athens's position was weak because it urgently needs the next tranche of bailout money, which the "troika" of the European Central Bank, IMF and European commission will only release if it is satisfied that the country is complying with its austerity programme.

"They don't have the luxury of entering into protracted negotiations: they don't have any bargaining power," he said. "I think they lose-- I think the troika wins. The key question is, how do the Greek public react to that?"