IT’S fear that’s etched on the faces of those queuing outside banks and ATMs in Greece.
And who can blame them?
The country’s facing financial ruin and its former friends in the EU are piling on the pressure.
What’s intriguing is that, with Greece down on her luck, we’re at last seeing the real face of ever-closer union and it’s not a pretty one.
Cornered and desperate, Prime Minister Alex Tsipiras turned to the people, calling a snap referendum this Sunday on whether to accept the new austerity package demanded by creditors.
But such clear cut democracy is not something that an increasingly federalist organisation either understands or is prepared to put up with.
EU ministers lined up to tell the Greek finance minister that the issues were beyond the “capacity of the common people” to understand.
Jean-Claude Juncker called the referendum a “betrayal”.
However, now that Mr Tsipiras has capitulated and begged for another bailout, the EU has insisted that the referendum must be held, for a ‘yes’ vote would inevitably force him to resign.
Interestingly, if you recall, the eurocrats ensured that the last Greek Prime Minister to offer a referendum in 2011 was deposed before it took place.
Greeks are under no illusion that a ‘no’ vote would see them leaving the Eurozone, with Angela Merkel warning: “If the euro fails, then Europe fails.”
Of course, all these threats wouldn’t be necessary if the EU was the utopia we’re led to believe it is.
Instead, it’s a massive protection racket, held together by blackmail and fear, with countries with the most to lose from a Greek default – France and Germany – protesting the loudest.
It’s time to rethink this failed experiment before more countries and their citizens are hurt.