From Volume 38, Issue 12 of EIR Online, Published Mar. 25, 2011

Western European News Digest

Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Popular Spanish Radio

March 13 (EIRNS)—An interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the chairwoman of Germany's Bueso party, was broadcast during prime time on Friday evening, March 11, on one of Spain's major radio stations, Radio Intereconomia, whose host Daniel Estulin introduced Zepp-LaRouche as "one of the most brilliant women in the world today." She began by stating that, "We have believed for some time that the world financial system will collapse, and we are now at the point where that is occurring."

In addition to the Zepp-LaRouche interview, Estulin's website had as its lead item, over the weekend, LPAC-TV's first Moon-Mars video, with a direct link to the Spanish-language version available on the Spanish LPAC site.

Swedish Unions Mobilize Against the Euro Pact

March 17 (EIRNS)—The united Swedish trade unions are mobilizing against the fascist policy of the EU to abolish collective bargaining. The eurozone summit on March 11 adopted the Competition Pact proposed by the EU Commission, and also the separate Franco-German proposal. The Swedish government will not join, which is an option for the EU countries outside the eurozone. Finance Minister Anders Borg "warns against a supranational regulation of the wages," Dagens Nyheter wrote March 16.

The three leaders of Sweden's main trade union confederations, LO, TCO, and SACO, first came out in an op-ed in Dagens Industri March 4, commending the position of Borg and calling for a halt of all these kinds of proposals at the next EU summit March 24-25. Yesterday, they alerted the Swedish parliament EU committee in a letter, asking it to also put pressure on the government.

Out of the countries not part of the eurozone, Poland and Denmark have announced their interest in joining the pact.

First Irish Parliament Debate: 'Bondholders Must Pay'

March 15 (EIRNS)—The Irish Parliament (Dail) opened for its first debate since the new Fine Gael/Labour Party coalition government was formed last week. As soon as he was sworn in, new Prime Minister Enda Kenny crawled off to Brussels, but got no mercy from his European partners on the bone-cutting IMF/EU bailout deal. Returning to Ireland, the only sympathy he got was from the disgraced former Fianna Fail government ministers. Indeed, new member of parliament Shane Ross, who is the business editor of the Sunday Irish Independent, said that the new government was already "walking in the Fianna Fáil swamp" and was "sinking in the quicksand."

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams again slammed the bailout package, while other Sinn Fein and Independent MPs demanded a referendum on the unsustainable debt.

Global Mass Strike: Now It's Portugal!

March 13 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, more than 300,000 people demonstrated in 11 Portuguese cities, including an estimated 200,000 in Lisbon and 80,000 in the northern city of Porto. That is nearly 3% of the total population of the country (just under 11 million). The protest was organized mainly via Facebook and other Internet means by university youth in their late 20s, to protest unemployment, job insecurity, and the lack of a future.

They call themselves the "Geração a rasca," which has been translated as the "Scraping-By Generation," or the "Desperate Generation," and they came into existence less than a month ago. They state explicitly that they were inspired by protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere, which "have helped open our eyes," said one of the young organizers. "We are the best qualified generation in the history of Portugal and we want to use our skills to better our country. We don't want to emigrate."

First Protest Rally against Biofuel in Germany

March 14 (EIRNS)—On March 12, the small town of Derwitz, near Potsdam, saw the first-ever protest rally in Germany against the new biofuel E10, with 200 citizens taking part, driving passenger cars, trucks, and joined by farmers with their tractors. Mayor Klaus Behrendt also joined the rally. The protesters, who came from two roads driving into the city, demanded an end to the double taxation of fuel through the ecology tax, as well as an end to cutting down forests to create biofuels plantations.

The ecology tax particularly enrages citizens, because it has contributed massively to making diesel—which is mainly used by commercial vehicles—50% more expensive since 2009.

Top German Jurists Denounce Nuclear Moratorium

March 17 (EIRNS)—Chancellor Angela Merkel's panicked decree for a six-month halt of any activity at Germany's eight oldest nuclear power plants, which supposedly are in urgent need of a safety check after the Japanese nuclear accident, is meeting strong, public resistance from top jurists in the country. Hans Papier, former president of the Constitutional Court, denounced the decree as unconstitutional, since a law can be lifted or changed only through a strict parliamentary procedure, and every decision by the government or parliament is subject to a review by the Court. Moreover, Papier argues, there exists no threat from German nuclear power plants to the German population.

'Something's Rotten' at the Heart of the Empire

March 13 (EIRNS)—The ever-widening royal scandal around Britain's Andrew, Prince of Sleaze, is playing out in the context of the international mass strikes, as the corrupt royal family-Saudi monarchy-City of London nexus again comes to the fore.

Andrew, the Queen's favorite son, is beset by new exposures every day, and could be forced out of his role as international British trade representative very soon. This would cut him off from all the sleazy financial resources which have kept him and his divorced, but still closely attached, wife Sarah Ferguson, afloat, and bring even more upheavals in the Queen's "family from hell." Yesterday, Buckingham Palace had to announce that Andrew's planned trip to Saudi Arabia next week had been postponed, "given the current circumstances in the region." Andrew's trip was to promote defense contracts. The palace claimed the scandals had nothing to do with the postponement, but of course no one is swallowing that one.

Happy Birthday, Italy!

March 17 (EIRNS)—Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Italy as a nation, a century and a half ago, after Garibaldi's conquest of the Bourbon Kingdom in Southern Italy and the Piedmontese invasion of the Church state from the north, the Italian national state was proclaimed under the Savoy monarchy. The architect of that accomplishment was Camillo Benso di Cavour, the man who was characterized by his enemy, Austria's Prince Metternich, as "the only statesman of Europe."

Unfortunately, Cavour died a few months after unification, possibly poisoned, leaving no successor to become a real national leader. Thus, the Piedmont aristocracy handled Southern Italy as a colony of the North, only in part accomplishing Cavour's original design.

MEP Muscardini Files Question on U.S. FCIC Report

March 15 (EIRNS)—MEP Cristiana Muscardini, deputy chairwoman of the Trade Committee of the European Parliament, filed a Parliamentary Question to the EU Commission on Feb. 23, on the subject of the FCIC Report in the United States. The document is numbered E-002186/2011 and can be found in all languages on the European Parliament's website.

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