The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.
That’s basically how one can summarize the situation in Europe. Several (Southern) European countries are on the brink of collapse. Greece is as near bankruptcy as can be. At the same time, Western and Northern Europeans are becoming increasingly disturbed by the irresponsible behavior of the Greek, and of other nations.
Other nations, you ask?
Why yes. You see, Spain is almost in a state of civil war.* Spanish youth have been protesting announced economic reforms for some time now, because once again they are the ones who have to bear the grunt of the government cuts. This while the unemployment rate among the youth is up to 40% (or more).
Meanwhile, the ones actually responsible for Spain’s economic mess – the middle-aged and the elderly – are not asked to make any significant sacrifices.
If I were a Spaniard, I wouldn’t quite accept that either.
Having said that, reforms are desperately needed. If the Spanish continue living the way they’ve lived for decades, they’re doomed – and so will the rest of the European Union. After all, Europe’s economies are interconnected. If Spain falls, the Euro suffers a major blow. And if the Euro suffers a major blow, the other Euro-countries are in deep trouble indeed.
As for Greece, especially the Dutch are increasingly angered by the attitude of the Greek. The EU has bailed out Athens once, but now they want another ’loan’; even though they haven’t paid back the other one. What’s worse, many believe we will never see that money back. A small country like the Netherlands is asked to give the Greek 3,5 billion Euro (that’s approximately 5 billion in US Dollars). Such an amount may be peanuts for, say, the United States, but not for a country like the Netherlands which has a total population of a mere 16 million souls.
So what’s ahead for Europe? Well, to say that the future looks rather grim would be the understatement of the century. The Old Continent can’t bail out weak, corrupt, lazy and irresponsible states infinitely. One of these days, we’ll simply run out of money. And my guess is that day will arrive sooner, rather than later.
* For some photos of the mass protests see here and here. Go here for a video.
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