Jean-Claude Juncker heeft al over zichzelf vastgesteld dat hij een leugenaar is. Maar in een interview met Spiegel blijkt dat hij zich dat in het geheel niet aantrekt en dat daardoor een herhaling waarschijnlijk is. Maar het interview is veel onthullender; het toont aan deze ‘leider’ van de Euro elk realiteitsbesef volledig achter zich heeft gelaten. Of gewoon glashard aan het liegen is. Helaas kan je dat bij een leugenaar pas achteraf vaststellen. Wat in dit geval toch wel een erg groot risico is voor ons allen.

Voor iedereen die nog altijd denkt dat Euroland deze crisis in haar huidige samenstelling zal overleven is dit interview een must-read. En voor iedereen die dat niet denkt is dit interview eveneens een must-read. Het is een verdere bevestiging dat liegende, knettergeke megalomanen onze toekomst bepalen. Met alle potentieel desastreuze gevolgen vandien…

Hier is het stuk uit het interview dat ingaat op zijn leugen, wat Juncker overigens afdoet als een little white lie:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Prime Minister, you are a Christian Democrat and a Catholic, which is why we want to talk to you about the Ten Commandments.

Juncker: I already have an idea of what you are getting at.

SPIEGEL: Are you familiar with the Eighth Commandment?

Juncker: Of course. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

SPIEGEL: Apparently you don’t take it very seriously. More than two weeks ago, you denied a report by SPIEGEL ONLINE about a secret meeting of several European Union finance ministers to discuss the situation in Greece, even though the official limousines were already pulling up in Luxembourg.

Juncker: The most important commandment is not to inflict harm on others. Although it isn’t stated quite that way in the Ten Commandments, it follows from them. The finance ministers of several Euro Group nations had agreed to meet on Friday with the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet. Because the financial markets in Europe were still open and trading was still underway on Wall Street, we had to deny the existence of the meeting. Otherwise the course of the euro against the dollar, which had already fallen as a result of your report, would have plunged disastrously.

SPIEGEL: With this false denial, you not only harmed your own credibility, but that of European financial policy as well.

Juncker: And it didn’t exactly enhance the credibility of SPIEGEL ONLINE to disseminate the false report that we were meeting in Luxembourg to discuss Greece’s withdrawal from the monetary union.

SPIEGEL: Forgive us for saying so, but SPIEGEL ONLINE had obtained information to that effect from government sources, as well as a working document prepared specifically for this meeting for the German finance minister.

Juncker: It is not unusual for finance ministers to have documents with them that contain all of the issues being discussed in public. And the question of Greece’s withdrawal from the monetary union is certainly being discussed in public. But that’s a far cry from saying that the issue is on the agenda of a meeting. As a result, I had to be all the more careful to ensure that no unnecessary turbulence would occur in the markets.

SPIEGEL: Are you saying that, as a finance minister in the age of global capital markets, you cannot tell people the truth?

Juncker: I do not have a ready answer to your question. My main concern is to protect people from detriment. That’s why I feel practically compelled to make sure that no dangerous rumors begin to circulate. I’m certainly not going to go to confession because of a false denial. God understands more about the financial markets than many who write about them.

Ahhh.. de God kaart wordt getrokken, net als Blanfein (CEO Goldman Sachs). Juncker zit goed; hij doet God’s werk. Jawel, dit is het uiteindelijke argument van een man met ongekende macht en invloed die daarmee mede onze (financiele en economische) toekomst bepaald. Angstaanjagend. Kan iemand er voor zorgen dat hij per direct het pand verlaat?

Maar het wordt nog veel interessanter als het over Griekenland gaat:

SPIEGEL: The country’s debt burden is so large that even tough austerity programs and loans are not enough to pull it out of the crisis. Why don’t you finally admit that Greece is broke?

Juncker: Greece is not broke. That is what the experienced experts with the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank tell us. I am firmly convinced that, in a joint effort, we can lead Greece out of the crisis.

SPIEGEL: The total debt amounts to almost 160 percent of Greece’s economic output. With such a debt burden, how is the country ever supposed to make any headway?

Juncker: The United States and Japan also have high debt levels, and yet no one would claim that those countries are bankrupt.

SPIEGEL: But Japan and the United States have their own currencies, which they can devalue, if necessary.

Juncker: That option is not open to Greece — I’ll acknowledge that. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that the government is powerless. On the contrary, Greece can bolster its competitiveness, and it can pursue a reasonable economic policy and generate more growth.

SPIEGEL: Hope springs eternal.

Juncker: No, I am just considering the alternatives. If Greece were to declare a national bankruptcy tomorrow, the country would have no access to the international financial market for years to come, and its most important creditors, the banks in Germany and Europe, would have an enormous problem — with incalculable consequences for the financial market.

SPIEGEL: But you exaggerate. The European lenders are in a better position than two years ago, and now many countries have established their own bailout instruments to protect against bank crashes.

Juncker: I would be cautious in that regard. We are still at the epicenter of a global crisis. We are dealing with largely irrational markets, nervous investors and rating agencies whose conclusions don’t always make complete sense. I’ll stick to my argument: In the case of a national bankruptcy with a subsequent debt restructuring, we would be letting a genie out of the bottle without knowing in which direction it would be flying.

SPIEGEL: The banks, which are you so quick to criticize, are the ones that stand to benefit. They can rake in high profits for their Greece investments and be sure that German or Dutch taxpayers will carry the risks in the end. How do you intend to convey this to people?

Juncker: An economic system in which the profits are privatized and the risks socialized goes against my basic convictions. However, we must be careful that we do not blow up the global financial system by insisting on regulatory principles. That is why I advise exercising as much restraint as possible when it comes to the notion, which is certainly justified, of asking private lenders to participate in the costs of the crisis.

En daar is het! Juncker zegt dat de banken een probleem krijgen als gevolg van het risico dat diezelfde banken hebben genomen door Grieks waardepapier te kopen. Ehh… als banken speculeren, dienen banken dan niet het risico te dragen? Nee, niet volgens Juncker; dit dient te worden afgewenteld op de belastingbetaler!

En voor iedereen die nog denkt dat Juncker een verstandige man is, deze korte interactie:

SPIEGEL: With all due respect to your restraint on the question of restructuring, what happens if we’re sitting here again next year and conclude that Greece is still not on a stabilization course?

Juncker: If the donkey were a cat it could climb a tree. But it is not a cat. Nevertheless, this is a question that worries many people. My answer to it is almost a little theological: I do not believe that this question will ever be asked.

Hahaha! De man is een complete idioot! En hij komt er blijkbaar mee weg. Hoe is het toch mogelijk? En het kansloze konijn De Jager doet hier dus vrolijk in mee. Wat een droefenis… Hoeveel geld gaat het tolereren van collectieve idiotie ons kosten? Is dit democratie? Hmm…