UK Politics

The irony of the EU empire building though

Europeans can't go colonising around the world anymore so they just colonise themselves

Like many Hungarians living under communism, he admits to being an initial supporter of free markets as a liberating and augmentative force in eastern Europe. But as he explains, the neoliberalism imposed on eastern Europe by the west was like "colonialism without the responsibility, maximising profits, leaving behind the poor and without any strategy or moral compass."

This is examined further by David Hall, Professor of Business at the University of Greenwich, who says the drive since the 1990s to privatise utilities, and the conditions imposed on Greece since the financial crash, are similar to nineteenth century colonisation where northern European countries used sovereign debt to control the economies of Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire.

"The Committee of Ottoman Debt was set up," says Professor Hall, "and had control of the revenues of the Ottoman Empire. And one of the first things they did to create revenues was to create concessions for British, French and German companies in rail, water and energy. Absolutely, in historical terms it is an echo of old-style colonialism

Had enough of experts have we?

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/is-europe-colonising-itself-review-of-europe-s-forbidden-colony/