Syriza MP: Rid Europe of the Absurdity of Eurozone Single Currency Regime; LaRouche Goes Further

Syriza member of parliament Kostas Lapavitsas has called for not just Greece to leave the Eurozone but for its final dismantling if Greece and Europe are to be saved. Lapavitas is an economist at the University of London School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAD) and has been a longtime advocate of Greece leaving the Eurozone. He just ran for the first time for parliament and won a seat as a member of Syriza.

In a March 2 op-ed in Britain’s daily Guardian, he makes the case that the last four weeks of negotiations with Greece’s EU “partners” has accomplished nothing more than buying time. More importantly, it has shown that these “partners” will not change.

“The most vital step is to realize that the strategy of hoping to achieve radical change within the institutional framework of the common currency has come to an end,”

Lapavitsas wrote.

“The strategy has given us electoral success by promising to release the Greek people from austerity without having to endure a major falling-out with the Eurozone. Unfortunately, events have shown beyond doubt that this is impossible, and it is time that we acknowledged reality.”

He writes that Athens should rely on its most important strength, which is “the tremendous popular support we still enjoy.” He calls for the government to implement its emergency program, including forbidding home foreclosures, writing off domestic debt, stopping privatizations, etc. He adds that

“Fiscal targets and monitoring by the ‘institutions’ should take a back seat in our calculations, if we are to maintain our popular support.”

He concludes that when the government has to once again start negotiations in June, it must do it

“with a very different frame of mind from February. The Eurozone cannot be reformed and it will not become a ‘friendly’ monetary union that supports working people. Greece must bring a full array of options to the table, and it must be prepared for extraordinary liquidity measures in the knowledge that all eventualities could be managed, if its people were ready. After all, the EU has already wrought disaster on the country.

“Syriza could gain succor from the European left, but only if the left shakes off its own illusions and begins to propose sensible policies that might at last rid Europe of the absurdity that the common currency has become. There might then be a chance of properly lifting austerity across the continent. Time is indeed very short for all of us.”

Let’s face facts, Lyndon LaRouche responded. This system is over and done for. Wall Street and London are totally bankrupt. They are manipulating fictitious assets, and trying to force credit out of Argentina and Brazil to keep themselves afloat a few hours longer. Along with them, the Euro system is completely bankrupt. On the other side, the BRICS is open to Greece, meshing with Greece’s ever-closer relations with Russia. Good credit is available to Greece from the BRICS, especially from China. That is where the future lies for Greece, and not only for Greece.