Varoufakis blows the whistle on the Eurogroup

(starting near minute 27 of the full interview with Paul Mason - Guardian Live)

 

To have democracy 

it is not enough to have elections.

 

U must have a body politic

which is represented by a sovereign parliament,

 

which can ask these questions of its rulers

and can get rid of them.

 

Now, the greatest economy in the world

at the moment is the Euro-zone,

 

in terms of size, complexity, importance

and so on and soforth.

 

It is run by... 

It is run by the Eurogroup, right?

 

I can assure you, 

that these decisions are made

 

in a way that, if U knew...

 

(it's a bit like sausages, 

if U know what's in it, U don't want to touch it.)

 

If U knew how the Eurogroup operates,

 

If the German citizens, French citizens...

 

(and this is what i'm up to these days,

i'm trying to concrete mischief about Europe

 

by efectively being a whistleblower and telling them

what goes on in there on their behalf!)

 

Would U believe it

that there are no minutes taken,

 

so that the citizens of Europa...

 

can never find out what 

their respresentative said on their behalf?

 

Would you believe that...

 

the ministers of finance, sitting around 

that large rectangular table...

 

make decisions on Greece, on Portugal

on Spain, on France...

 

without having been BRIEFED

about the data or the proposals...

 

that are being put before them

to decide on? Never briefed!

 

Once i suggested that i send by email

to the other ministers of finance...

 

my proposals regarding the bailout deal.

 

And i was warned that if i do that

it would be Casus Belli, a cause for war...

 

And any proposal that i email to my

fellow ministers of finance...

 

would be disqualified from the conversation.

 

Why?

 

I never understood the answer to that question,

 

I put it to them and i was told 

by Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble...

 

the German minister of finance,

that if i did that, he would then...

 

be obliged to submit my proposals

to the Bundestag, the federal parliament in Berlin,

 

(which i didn't think 

was such a disaster anyway)

 

and then if that happened 

a debate on my proposals...

 

would begin in the Bundestag

before we had it in the Europgroup,

 

which would mean that we 

wouldn't be able to have it in the Eurogroup,

 

and if U do it...

i'm never gonna discuss these proposals with U.

 

This contempt for the paraliamentary process,

for transparency...

 

is part and parcel of the democratic deficit.

 

Let me put it differently:

here in Britain...

 

U have a system of government

that leaves much to be desired...

 

yet, when George Osborne takes a decision...

 

he has to appear in front of the house...

and defend it.

 

And the house of commons

has the authority to dismiss him.

 

Now, when we decide in the Eurogroup...

we are the government...

 

the economic government 

of the Euro-zone.

 

We make a decision...

based on precisely ZERO information...

 

(the decision has already been made behind closed doors

in dark corners of those terrible buildings)

 

we all then meet...

the representatives of the Troika speak first!

 

So first is the commisioner mr. Moskovicy

who speaks on any subject: Portugal, Greece, whatever...

 

Then the president of the Central Bank.

 

Then the managing director of the IMF,

which is not even part of Europa.

 

And then the ministers,

on the basis of what they HEARD,

 

not on any document they have in front of them,

on the basis of what they heard from the Troika...

 

have ten minutes each

to say some enanity...

 

(because U can't say anything serious

when U're not briefed)

 

and anyway there is no negotiation.

 

This process lasts for about 

half an hour, an hour... maybe two...

 

and then we spend three hours debating

the ONLY thing to which we're contributing...

 

the press release.

 

And that is how European law 

and European economic policy decide.

 

Then everybody comes out

and nobody defends it.

 

So the Spanish finance minister goes to Spain,

goes to Madrid, goes to his parliament...

 

and if somebody says to him:

 

"What was this idiocy that you agreed upon?

at the level of the Eurogroup"

 

U know what he says?

Oooh, it was the best i could do... U know...

 

I was only one...

there were eighteen against me...

 

But everybody says that!

 

Schäuble goes to the Bundestag he defends himself

by saying: "Oooh, it is the best I could do..."

 

so in the end

NOBODY IS RESPONSIBLE.