A very European coup

I'm not a fan of Nigel Farage. I find his constant indignation tiresome, and he must find it very tiring to be cross all the time. But yesterday I was pointed in the direction of this little clip of him in action in the European Parliament a bit over a week ago, addressing a point which has been worrying me as well: the fact that both Greece and Italy have had a change of government without elections---not just a change of party leader as we have in GB, but a change in government direction and policy as well. He was, as usual, being quite rude to and about people in the room with him, but his central point "What gives you the right to dictate to the Greek and Italian people" is still valid.

The debt problems of Greece and Italy have been well rehearsed, along with the risks and consequences of default/haircut. When they had their own currencies, the consequence would have been devaluation, meaning that they had to export more goods for the same amount of imports---in essence, they would have to work their way out of debt. Without the possibility of devaluing the debt and therefore passing it on to the population at large, the full debt remains with the government, and the risk of default is that much higher, hence the high interest rates on sovereign debt yadda yadda yadda.


But none of this alters the fact that in two EU member states an elected government has been replaced by an unelected one. This happens at gunpoint elsewhere in the world: the change of government is called a coup, and the new government is called a junta. But in Eurozone land, it is glossed over with the phrase "this is not the time for elections". Which brings me from Nigel Farage to Tony Benn and his five democratic questions which must be asked of these governments:

1. what power do you have;
2. where did you get it;
3. in whose interests do you exercise it;
4. to whom are you accountable;
5. and, how can we get rid of you?

Anyone who cannot answer the last of those questions does not live in a democratic system"