mr president what is the most commonly used word in association with the euro
no it is not failure although it could be
it is stability is it not
a decade ago everybody said that once we had the euro currency it would bring us stability
well a decade on i would suggest that what it has brought is chaos discord and misery for millions and yet the word stability is still being used this morning
mr barroso used it mr van rompuy used it stability
in fact we are patting ourselves on the back because the bond auctions in portugal went well last week whereas the reality is that the european central bank was actually using taxpayers money to buy their own debt
your reassurances that all is well do not work
who do you think you are kidding mr van rompuy
bond yields in portugal rose to nearly seven yesterday
the public right across the union no longer supports the currency and the battle for spain has not even begun
the model itself is failing and yet what you want is to double the size of the bail-out fund
you even want to increase the scope of the bail-out fund so that along with the ecb you too can go on buying yet more of your own debt
you are using the crisis as a massive power grab to take us towards fiscal union
if you succeed then we should change the name get rid of european union and call it the debt union
if you do succeed you will trap those southern countries inside an economic prison in which people's suffering will be untold while the northern countries will find themselves paying forever a massive bill and interest rates that are far too high for their own economies
we have reached a point where it actually does not matter what any of you say
nobody believes you
the public does not support you
i hope and pray the markets break you
