Thousands of left-wing protesters took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to denounce the European Union fiscal pact forcing governments to stick to tough deficit limits.
Chanting “Resistance!”, protesters marched through central Paris in a rally organisers said was aimed at fighting EU-imposed austerity, not at criticising the government of Socialist President Francois Hollande.
“This day is the day the French people launch a movement against the policy of austerity,” one-time presidential contender and Left Front leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said at the march.
Melenchon denied the protest was aimed at Hollande, saying: “This is a left-wing demonstration under a left-wing government.”
Organisers said 80,000 people took part in the rally. “It was very successful, beyond our expectations,” said Annick Coupe, a spokeswoman for the Solidaires union.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is to open what is expected to be a long and difficult debate on the fiscal pact in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
All EU countries are expected to sign a "balance budget amendment" that would limit deficits to half a percentage of GDP. It would be the American equivalent of deficits no larger than 80 billion or so and having to raise taxes or cut spending immediately, not a decade from now, but now. And even the French are signing on.
The results will be catastrophic, of course. EU budgets over the next couple of years will be devastating, and the riots you will see in the next term for the US President, either Obama or Romney, will become the flash point for a lot of things.
Keep in mind this is what the Republicans want here, an opportunity to cut taxes for the rich to nothing and drop the burden on the rest of us who cannot afford to buy House and Senate seats. Our time is coming very soon unless something changes dramatically in our election system.
Probably not going to happen. Citizens United all but assures that.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment