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Unbelievable democratic derailment
Yesterday afternoon, the Parliament voted with 172 votes in favor of the IMF+EU aid deal. It was passed, but it is now vulnerable (in a constitutional court) due to not achieving 180 votes (that are required for such international deals).
However, Andreas Loverdos (Minister of Employment) confessed on ALTER TV the real reason for this change: The international lendors felt that the loaning deals were not so binding (if they were to be agreed again by the Parliament) so the Parliament should be bypassed (!) - which effectively means the Minister of Finance was lying in the morning when he said that he was intending to give the loaning deals for parliamentary validation. Reporter Hatzinikolaou was shocked by this statement of Loverdos and the foreign lendors which dictate whether or not our parliament is to be bypassed, and reacted to it.
Unbelievable democratic derailment
But the outrageous thing was that after it was voted, there were amendments made that gave the Minister of Finance unlimited authority in international dealing of these bi-lateral loans (!!!!). The Parliament of course, voted for no such thing, and there was a great deal of upset due to this amendment. The Minister of Finance (Papakonstantinou) downplayed parliament member worries who claimed that what is happening is a "Parliamentary Coup" by saying he intended to bring the deals to the Parliament anyway.
The law phraseology dictated that the deals should be referred to the parliament for validation. The word validation was changed (after the voting) with "briefing and discussion" which implied validation authority to the Minister of Finance.
The law phraseology dictated that the deals should be referred to the parliament for validation. The word validation was changed (after the voting) with "briefing and discussion" which implied validation authority to the Minister of Finance.
However, Andreas Loverdos (Minister of Employment) confessed on ALTER TV the real reason for this change: The international lendors felt that the loaning deals were not so binding (if they were to be agreed again by the Parliament) so the Parliament should be bypassed (!) - which effectively means the Minister of Finance was lying in the morning when he said that he was intending to give the loaning deals for parliamentary validation. Reporter Hatzinikolaou was shocked by this statement of Loverdos and the foreign lendors which dictate whether or not our parliament is to be bypassed, and reacted to it.
Yesterday, 3 members of the Parliament who did not vote for the aid-package, were ousted from the governing party (PASOK).
Parliamentary "democracy" in Greece is a huge joke. Parliament members are totally unlike U.S. Congressmen. They are just pawns of their party leaders and if they disagree theyre ousted and replaced in the next elections by better, more compliant, pawns. So, all in all, parliamentary democracy in Greece works like this:
a) Party leader decides whats the Party position (and he usually does this based on foreign centers of power, since party leaders are puppets - and this is a sentiment reflected and expressed openly by members of the parliament also).
b) He requires that all the party members vote in his position (eliminating democratic disagreement or peoples representation through their elected member of the parliament)
c) The law is passed or not passed (depending the choice)
d) If anyone does not do as told, hes replaced in the next election.
Keeping members of the parliament in line with the party leader directives, is called "Party Discipline"(Κομματική Πειθαρχία) - an analogous to "Army Discipline" which refers to a soldiers obedience towards their superior officers. However, constitutionally, The People are at the top of Power. Its in Article 1 of our constitution, that all Power comes from the People and is exercised FOR the People.
This system of soldier-like parliament members would not work if there was pure democracy, rather than "boosted" democracy... ie, a party with only 40% of the votes, controls 60% of the parliament through laws that allow the rigging of the voting power. In pure democracy, it would require 50% of the votes to control 50,1% of the parliament (150+1 members of 300 members) - so even one conscious vote could make a difference in a law, and making more valuable the presence of a parliament member. For if a party erases a member and drops below the 151 mark, then they lose the majority to rule or legislate and thus the party leader cant just "erase" party members for their disagreements.
In any case, Dimaras, Sakorafa and Oikonomou of PASOK did the right thing to NOT vote the treacherous deal of financial takeover. Im sure the demonstrators of May 5th which almost stormed the Parliament, after calling rhythmically for its burning, played their role in this. Their actions sent shockwaves to all moral parliament members.
In other news, there appear to be some leaked documents (of unknown credibility - I cant yet determine whether theyre real or disinfo) which indicate that along with all other options available to steer-course away from bankruptcy that are already known and published here, the Prime Minister had loan proposals at very low interest rates for ~20bn euros that could serve the country needs without skyrocketing spreads. This points out to a staged Greek collapse as well. Well see if its credible or not, because there have been leaks the last days about Arab, Chinese and Russian bailout deals that were not chosen by the government (on purpose) which have no hard facts (and are most probably disinfo). Now comes this document and time will tell of its authenticity.
Update 3:18am May 8th: More leaked documents of the supposed 20bn euro deal (that did not materialize). The wording etc, do not seem consistent with deals of this kind, but well have to wait for it to be debunked. (update 17th May - the original entry was removed from that blog, which means they now consider it disinfo as well).
May 5th Demonstrations
Update 3:18am May 8th: More leaked documents of the supposed 20bn euro deal (that did not materialize). The wording etc, do not seem consistent with deals of this kind, but well have to wait for it to be debunked. (update 17th May - the original entry was removed from that blog, which means they now consider it disinfo as well).
May 5th DemonstrationsUpdate 9th May 2010: Constitutional violations of the last few days
The Greek Constitution has suffered enormously this last week, in order to pass the IMF deal:
a) The country lost its Sovereignty through the IMF+EU plan.
b) The parliament did not approve the IMF+EU dail with 180 members (as the constitution sais about treaties that involve loss of Sovereignty) but with only 172.
c) Minister of Finance usurped authority of the Parliament, by assigning to himself the right to sign whatever he wants without the validation of the Parliament (after the deal was voted in the Parliament).
Article 28
2. Authorities provided by the Constitution may by treaty or agreement be vested in agencies of international organizations, when this serves an important national interest and promotes cooperation with other States. A majority of three-fifths of the total number of Members of Parliament (180) shall be necessary to vote the law sanctioning the treaty or agreement.
d) PASOK penalized its 3 MPs and ND penalized its 1 MP for disagreeing with their "Party policy lines" in violation of the constitutional right of the Members of the Parliament to vote consciously, rather than by outside factors. Other members who voted in favor of the deal were psychologically forced to, despite their disagreement.
Article 60
1. Members of Parliament enjoy unrestricted freedom of opinion and right to vote according to their conscience.
e) People who opposed the Government policies and unconstitutional ways were beaten on the May 6th peacefull gathering outside the Parliament. Thus the Government has now tried to tear down the Constitution by violence, which activates the last article of the Constitution (120/4) about citizens resisting the state, if the state Violentry tries to abolish the Constitution.
Article 120
3. Usurpation, in any way whatsoever, of popular sovereignty and of powers deriving therefrom shall be prosecuted upon restoration of the lawful authority; the limitation from which punishment for the crime is barred shall begin as of the restoration of lawful authority.
4. Observance of the constitution is entrusted to the patriotism of the Greeks who shall have the right and the duty to resist by all possible means against anyone who attempts the violent abolition of the Constitution.
Paragraph 3 is pertinent to how Papandreou rose to power, with false promises and then betrayed the country by giving its sovereignty to foreign hands - the people did NOT authorize him to do that. Paragraph 4 is about people fighting back to retake this country.
Also violated were Article 2, 6 and a few more which are relevant to personal freedoms.
Article 2
1. Respect and protection of the value of the human being constitute the primary obligations of the State.
(people were beaten up for peacefully demonstrating)
Article 6
1. No person shall be arrested or imprisoned without a reasoned judicial warrant which must be served at the moment of arrest or detention pending trial, except when caught in the act of committing a crime.
(there were "pre-emptive arrests" as well as arrests of people who did nothing wrong)
This is increasingly looking like a dictatorship.
The Greek Constitution has suffered enormously this last week, in order to pass the IMF deal:
a) The country lost its Sovereignty through the IMF+EU plan.
b) The parliament did not approve the IMF+EU dail with 180 members (as the constitution sais about treaties that involve loss of Sovereignty) but with only 172.
c) Minister of Finance usurped authority of the Parliament, by assigning to himself the right to sign whatever he wants without the validation of the Parliament (after the deal was voted in the Parliament).
Article 28
2. Authorities provided by the Constitution may by treaty or agreement be vested in agencies of international organizations, when this serves an important national interest and promotes cooperation with other States. A majority of three-fifths of the total number of Members of Parliament (180) shall be necessary to vote the law sanctioning the treaty or agreement.
d) PASOK penalized its 3 MPs and ND penalized its 1 MP for disagreeing with their "Party policy lines" in violation of the constitutional right of the Members of the Parliament to vote consciously, rather than by outside factors. Other members who voted in favor of the deal were psychologically forced to, despite their disagreement.
Article 60
1. Members of Parliament enjoy unrestricted freedom of opinion and right to vote according to their conscience.
e) People who opposed the Government policies and unconstitutional ways were beaten on the May 6th peacefull gathering outside the Parliament. Thus the Government has now tried to tear down the Constitution by violence, which activates the last article of the Constitution (120/4) about citizens resisting the state, if the state Violentry tries to abolish the Constitution.
Article 120
3. Usurpation, in any way whatsoever, of popular sovereignty and of powers deriving therefrom shall be prosecuted upon restoration of the lawful authority; the limitation from which punishment for the crime is barred shall begin as of the restoration of lawful authority.
4. Observance of the constitution is entrusted to the patriotism of the Greeks who shall have the right and the duty to resist by all possible means against anyone who attempts the violent abolition of the Constitution.
Paragraph 3 is pertinent to how Papandreou rose to power, with false promises and then betrayed the country by giving its sovereignty to foreign hands - the people did NOT authorize him to do that. Paragraph 4 is about people fighting back to retake this country.
Also violated were Article 2, 6 and a few more which are relevant to personal freedoms.
Article 2
1. Respect and protection of the value of the human being constitute the primary obligations of the State.
(people were beaten up for peacefully demonstrating)
Article 6
1. No person shall be arrested or imprisoned without a reasoned judicial warrant which must be served at the moment of arrest or detention pending trial, except when caught in the act of committing a crime.
(there were "pre-emptive arrests" as well as arrests of people who did nothing wrong)
This is increasingly looking like a dictatorship.