Hateful scapegoating and economic garbage from the UKIP supporting paper
‘EU membership is dragging Greece into the Dark Ages’, says the Daily Express’s Leo McKinstry.
His column today blames Greece’s current economic woes on 1) its being part of the Eurozone, which he elides with membership of the European Union, and 2) migration into Greece from outside Europe, which he also blames on the EU.
The piece uses Greece as a way to argue about British membership of the EU by proxy. It’s therefore important to highlight why his argument is complete garbage.
For one thing, the Greek economy is not comparable to that of Britain. The UK is a much richer country with far less corruption than Greece. Crucially, the UK has its own currency and central bank, and can therefore print more money if it needs too, whereas Greece has the Euro and is at the mercy of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The behaviour of the ECB is the proximate cause of Greece’s torturous position. Its insistence on austerity measures in return for financial help is grinding Greek society into dust, and has done little to help its economy. Public hatred of this German-led policy is what propelled Syriza into government in Greece in January.
In other words, the trouble is with the administration of the Eurozone, not membership of it per se. After all, there are 19 countries using the Euro as their currency, and they don’t all have the same problems as Greece.
Does McKinstry seriously mean to say the UK economy is more comparable to that of Greece than Germany? Or why not compare it to other EU members with their own currency, such as Poland, which has thrived since joining the EU?
A report last week found Poland was outperforming Britain on health, education and using its wealth to benefit its citizens. This in a country which, as Express hero Nigel Farage keeps reminding us, was a communist dictatorship a few decades ago.
On point 2: to blame migration from what he calls ‘war-torn Somalia and Syria’ for Greece’s economic crisis is a hateful lie. People would be fleeing the war in Syria regardless of the size of Greece’s debt.
This is the sort of scapegoating that degrades the British press in the eyes of the world.
McKinstry even quotes the far-right Greek politician Panos Kamenos threatening to flood Europe with migrants – that is, spouting the equivalent of the racial demagogy carried by the Daily Express.
There are certainly lessons to be drawn from the Greek crisis for Britain, not least on austerity economics. But among them is not, as the Express would have it, to leave the EU, pull up the drawbridge, and elect Nigel Farage to high office.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
Read more:
Daily Mail says Syrian refugees turn Greek holiday town into ‘disgusting hellhole’
Express owner Desmond uses paper to protect his £1million UKIP donation
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17 Responses to “Daily Express blames Greek economic crisis on EU and immigration”
Peter Martin
If the UK Government didn’t have any debts , or liabilities, none of us would have any money. We’d be reduced to a barter economy. The govt’s financial liabilities are our financial assets!
Copyright101
Scapegoating – stupid scare word.
What exactly are the benefits of large scale immigration into Greece at this time? What problems does Greece have that immigration doesn’t make worse? Can anyone explain?
We might even want to apply the same thinking to the UK.
Patrick Gearon
You’re referring to currency Peter, not money. The kind of money GTF refers to is sound money – debt free, either printed and controlled by Treasury or backed by commodity. Either way, it has to be controlled by whatever means
Obviously Cameron will continue to run a deficit in the expectation of joining the Euro by trashing the pound
Peter Martin
Currency ? Money? That’s just semantics.
If we consider a closed economy of 1000 people they could elect a government and start a new currency, say it’s called a crown, from scratch. If the government issued everyone with one crown to start things off the govt would be 1k crowns in deficit. The economy would also have 1 k crowns of currency. Money. Call it what you like.
You can introduce taxes, and the govt can pay its workers in crowns. But however you play it, the total liability of the govt, in crowns, will always equal the financial assets held by the non govt sector.
Patrick Gearon
Yes, currency in circulation = government debt. I understand. But that cannot be the model we have because of the interest i.e. the crown was loaned, not spent into existence as per your analogy
I don’t doubt what you’re saying, in theory, but clearly this is not what is happening.