ECB's silent coup in Ireland

How the ECB dictatorial regime used the liquidity weapon in order to impose its terms on the Irish government

In 2010, Ireland experienced Frankfurt's political blackmail. On the 18th of November, where there was a governing council of the ECB in Frankfurt. The governor of the Irish central bank who sat on the governing council, called "Morning Ireland" which is the most important radio program in Ireland, to say that Ireland will need what he called a loan. He didn't warn the government about it and this created a massive panic.

Then, the next day, there was a letter written from the then president of ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, to Brian Lenihan, the minister of finance at the time, saying that 'if you don't apply the so-called bailout program, by this opening of the markets the following Monday, we're going to cut off access to Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA)', which obviously would have collapsed the Irish banking system.

The ECB used the liquidity weapon in order to impose its terms on the Irish government: austerity, privatizations, labor market deregulation. The ECB enforces fiscal policy, which is not what a central bank should do. And it does this by denying ELA, or, by providing liquidity, or not providing liquidity.

The ECB had basically taken over the government. In Ireland, they forced the government to bailout the banks at huge cost to the Irish population. They blackmailed the country with shutting its banks.

In 2014, the Irish parliament established a committee to investigate why the Irish people had paid the debts of the banks. Jean-Claude Trichet refused to testify. He agreed to answer only predefined questions at a location of his choice.

The outcome for the people was disastrous, still it's disastrous. Ireland is the so-called 'success story' of Europe. That is one big lie. Unemployment went to over 20%, youth unemployment was higher. One in four young people emigrated, the rates of deprivation went through the roof. One in three people are now deprived.

Even though the country is supposedly out of the program, it is under post-program surveillance. There is still undemocratic interference, even within the standards of capitalist democracy.

Information taken from the new documentary This Is Not A Coup by Aris Chatzistefanou

Related:

ECB's economic hitmen

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