Observations on Ireland and Greece

The Blog
The world is changing very fast and it seems that many people in Europe have lost faith in politics and politicians. Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007 most governments seem to be powerless and unable to counter the forces known as 'The Markets'. This blog comments on the political situation in both Ireland and Greece, two countries which have been badly affected by the crisis and the imposition of 'austerity'. The section Greece Daily Developments is related to trade union activity in Greece, as I have a special interest in the trade union movement.

Greece
Greece is now on its third memorandum agreement and it is impossible to see how adding more debt will solve the country's problems. The main difficulty facing Greece is that the economy, and indeed Greek society, needs major reforms. The Greek people have been badly served by their politicians for the past 30 years and now the country finds itself reeling from crisis to crisis, with the very real possibility of ejection from the Eurozone. I believe that unless radical reforms are implemented, it will be impossible for Greece to develop its economy sufficiently to extricate itself from the ongoing economic crisis. I further believe that it is highly unlikely that the necessary reforms can be implemented due to opposition from vested interests, including trade unions, and the inability of any one political party or combination of political parties to actually carry out the actions agreed to in Memorandum 3. This is a 32-page document (below) agreed in July 2015 between the Greek government and Greece's creditors.

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/assistance_eu_ms/greek_loan_facility/pdf/01_mou_20150811_en.pdf

Ireland
Ireland was also subject to terms of a bailout memorandum but has exited that process. However, there are still many problems in Ireland because of the fact that the government agreed to turn bank debt into sovereign debt, which Irish taxpayers are saddled with now. As a result, money that should be used to develop the Irish economy is paying off the debt of Irish banks. Consequently, over 300,000 people have emigrated, the health service is in a shambles and poverty and homelessness are increasing at an alarming rate. The Irish government is engaging in 'auction politics,'  still borrowing and adding to that debt in order to win the next general election, probably in early 2016.