Western European News Digest

Schiller Institute Holds NAWAPA Seminar

Sept. 25 (EIRNS)—The Schiller Institute held a seminar on NAWAPA, in Berlin, Germany today, which drew approximately 60 guests, including from the diplomatic community, small and medium-sized businesses, and the international media. Helga Zepp-LaRouche's keynote address provided a broad strategic assessment. She demonstrated that the London-centered financial oligarchy, the European Union bureaucracy, and the green fascists were all essentially one and the same thing, and contrasted their drive for fascism with a push for massive infrastructure projects, best expressed in the NAWAPA plan.

Following Zepp-LaRouche were presentations by Dr. Sergei Cherkasov of the Vernadsky State Geological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Hal Cooper, who presented the Bering Strait project, from both the Russian and North American sides.

Green Movement Is the Leading Edge of Fascism

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—The New Dark Age is sending unwelcome greetings, through the surge of the radical ecologist movement in Germany (and not only there), in particular around the developments in Stuttgart, with the mass protests—now almost daily, with a peak of up to several tens of thousands on weekends—against the Stuttgart 21 rail project. The immediate Green party interest there is all too evident: Having come out as the strongest group in the recent municipal elections, they also want to be the strongest group in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament after the elections in 2011, to be able to nominate the new state governor there (which would the first-ever Green governor in a German state).

Extensive media reporting on these campaigns has been a major factor in boosting the Greens in opinion polls—the latest done by the FORSA institute for the (notoriously anti-nuclear) weekly Stern magazine. The polls have Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats down to 29% of the total vote (if there were national elections next Sunday), the Social Democrats down to 24%, and the Greens running equal with that, at 24%. The Linkspartei (Left Party) is at 10% in this poll, and Merkel's minor coalition partner, the Free Democrats, are below 5% (see InDepth Economics for more on the fascist green assault on Germany).

EU Commission Wants To Punish Indebted Countries with More Debt

Sept. 25 (EIRNS)—EU Commissioner Olli Rehn presented his proposal to tighten the Maastricht Treaty's rules, to the effect that countries which consistently violate debt limits should be fined 0.2% of their GDP. In order to eliminate any chance that national governments might exercise a veto, Rehn also proposed that a veto can only be imposed if it is supported by a qualified majority inside the EU Council (heads of government), and if this occurs within no more than 10 days from the time the fine is imposed.

This proposal is so outrageous that it probably won't go through. It must be discussed and approved by the other EU "bodies." But the stupidity of EU heads of government has proven to be infinite.

However, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who is the ventriloquist for Rehn, had confessed in a recent interview in the Financial Times that such a new rule would need a change in the Lisbon Treaty, which currently codifies procedures for dealing with violations of the debt/deficit guidelines. Since this is legally impossible, current law should be stretched, Trichet said.

Irish Government Could Fall by Year's End

Sept. 25 (EIRNS)—In the face of brutal austerity policies which will only get worse under the heel of the European Commission, the Irish government could fail by December when the new budget has to be approved by the Parliament. This danger was clearly signaled when independent MP Noel Grealish announced he would no longer support the government. Citing brutal cuts in the health budget while the bankrupt Anglo Irish Bank gets billions from the taxpayers, Grealish called for new general elections, "I have come to the conclusion that it is time for an election and let the people decide. The amount of money this government is pumping into Anglo Irish Bank is intolerable when we have a health system that is on its knees," he told the Connacht Tribune.

Swedish Elections Show Oligarchical Control Over Parliamentary Systems

Sept. 21 (EIRNS)—The Swedish elections, held Sept. 19, gave birth to a weak right-wing alliance of liberal market ideologues (49.3%) and the entrance of the first Swedish xenophobic party, Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) into the Parliament (5.7%). The Greens advanced to 7.6%, and the Social Democratic Party, a formerly labor/industry-oriented party turned green/brown, made a historic loss, dropping to 30.8%.

As the LaRouche-associated European Labor Party (EAP) warned during the election campaign, the financial oligarchy controlling Swedish politics wanted to use the racist party as a bogeyman to stampede the political parties and people of Sweden into the arms of a liberal-green fascist economic dictatorship, a widespread phenomenon these days in almost all European countries.

This is exactly what is happening, since the large right-wing bloc is now calling upon the Greens to join the government coalition to form a "solid" government that could force through the "tough policies" to deal with the financial crisis in the coming period, i.e., fascist austerity, further bailout of the banks, and a green ideological dominance to make killing your grandma environmentally friendly!

Notably, the Greens' main condition for entering the right-wing coalition is to scrap all plans for building new nuclear reactors, which was the only positive promise made by the right-wing alliance.

France: Renewed Demonstrations Against Austerity

PARIS, Sept. 24 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, in a repeat of the giant demonstrations of Sept. 7, between 1 and 3 million people went on strike and demonstrated all over France against President Nicolas Sarkozy's program to reduce pensions. On-the-ground reports, however, indicate that the latest demonstrations were smaller than the previous one. What is being rumored is that the trade unions had already cut a deal with the government, in exchange for not making a show of force. The deal will apparently involve, according to Labor Minister Eric Woerth, offering better conditions in retirement for women, who are hit particularly hard hit by the "reforms" in pension plans.

French Regional Daily Covers Cheminade Presidential Campaign

PARIS, Sept. 25 (EIRNS)—Vosges Matin, the major daily of the eastern department of the Vosges, ran a quarter-page feature article yesterday on French LaRouche associate Jacques Cheminade, who is touring France to meet mayors, to gather the required 500 signatures of Grand Electors, to put him on the ballot for President in the 2012 election.

With the headline "Jacques Cheminade in the Presidential Race," the article includes a picture of Cheminade sitting next to Mayor Jean-Pierre Mangin of Varmonzey, and the kicker, "Blasting short-term thinking, an immoral financial system and a moribund educational system, Jacques Cheminade hits the road for his Presidential election campaign."

Queen Elizabeth Tries To Steal from the Poor

Sept. 25 (EIRNS)—According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the U.K. government, the Independent reports today, that in 2004, courtiers at Buckingham Palace, on orders from Queen Elizabeth II, tried to obtain £1 million from the £60 million fund set aside to pay home heating expenses for subjects with "low income." Courtiers were eventually told that the £60 million worth of energy saving grants was aimed at families on low incomes, and, if the money were given to Buckingham Palace, it could lead to "adverse publicity" for the Queen and the government.

The Royal Household complained that the £15 million given to maintain the Queen's palaces, was inadequate.

The Queen has a fortune estimated at £551 million and gets "insider trading tips," yet she pays nothing out of this sum for her maintenance.