2012-12-04 16:59:26
Η Γερμανίδα Sarah Luzia Hassel προσέφυγε στο Διεθνές Ποινικό Δικαστήριο της Χάγης καταγγέλλοντας εγκλήματα κατά της ανθρωπότητας Η Hassel-Reusing, η οποία είναι γνωστή στον Ο.Η.Ε. για τον αγώνα της υπέρ των κοινωνικών και ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, υπέβαλε προσωπικά στις 21.11.2012 προσφυγή 30 σελίδων και πολυσέλιδων παραρτημάτων με αποδεικτικό υλικό.
Πηγή
Το πλήρες κείμενο:
Η Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing στον Εισαγγελέα του ΔΠΔ (ICC)
Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing Thorner Str. 7
42283 Wuppertal (Germany) +49 / 202 / 2502621
human rights acitivist
to the International Crime Court
to be delivered to the Chief Prosecutor Mrs. Fatou Bensouda
Maanstraat 174
2516 AB, The Hague (Netherlands)
subject: -Greek charge regarding art. 7 Roman Statute
reference: -further crucial evidence especially regarding the objective part
Dear Madam, Mrs. Chief Prosecutor,
21.11.2012 (edited)
I address myself as a German citizen to you in the awareness, that the German people confesses itself to inalienable und invulnerable (universal) human rights as the basis of every human community, of peace, and of justice in the world (according to art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law, which is protected by the eternity guarantee of art. 79 par. 3 Basic Law). In his famous speech at the 06.09.1946 the then US foreign minister Mr. Byrnes has demanded, that Germany had to bind itself to human rights and to peace as a precondition, which would allow the USA, to accept that Germany might get to wealth again. In the Parlamentarian Council, the body, which has worked out and concluded the German Basic Law, Dr. Seebohm (German Party) demanded in his plenary speech at the 08.05.1949 a legally binding obligation of Germany to human rights and to peace, in order to enable other states to trust Germany again („Der Parlamentarische Rat“, Band 9, Harald-Boldt publishing house, p.562). This means the legal obligation to the universal human rights, for the wording of art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law has been developed starting from a draft of the first paragraph of the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Right (UDHR), and the other international human rights systems, which are valid today in Germany, have been come into existence after the the Basic Law (1949) (European Human Rights Convention of the Council of Europe concluded in 1950, and the EU Basic Rights Charter concluded in 2000 and made legally binding in 2009).
Dr. Süsterhenn (Christian-Democratical Union) demanded in his plenary speech in the Parlamentarian Council at the 08.09.1948 („Der Parlamentarische Rat“, Band 9, Harald-Boldt publishing house, p.56), that the universal human rights, if they are valid for UN trustee areas, then even more must be valid for the occupied Germany. Also the German Constitutional Court has confirmed art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law as a connection to the universal human rights (no. 96 of the Bodenreform III judgement, BVerfGE 112,1). In addition to that, the Constitutional Court has in no. 225 of the Lisbon judgement at the 30.06.2009 recognized the peace principle (obligation to peace by art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law, not to be misunderchanged with the prohibition of aggressive war by art. 26 Basic Law).
This means for me as a German citizen (official confirmation, that I am a German citizen, is attached), as a part of the sovereign (the people), to stand protecting the universal human rights.
The Greek journalists Georgios Tragkas, Panagiotis Tzenos, and Antonios Prekas, and the Greek politician Dimitrios Konstantaras (Nea Democratica), have filed a charge regarding the suspicion of crimes against humanity (art. 7 Roman Statute). The charge regarding art. 7 Roman Statute is directed against Christine Lagarde (CEO of the IMF), Herman van Rompuy (President of the European Council), Jose Manuel Barroso (President of the EU Commission), the German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, and the German Federal Minister of Finance, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble.
You find the English text of the charge at the following link:
www.scribd.com/doc/protected/100418463
According to art. 15 par. 1 Roman Statute, the Chief Prosecutor can, propriu motu, initiate investigations on the basis of information, which is filed at the International Crime Court for the prosecution of crimes, which are within the jurisdiction of the court.
This letter supports the above-mentioned Greek charge with crucial pieces of information regarding the objective part, especially regarding the systematic attack and the large scope according to art. 7 par. 1 Roman Statute. For this purpose, I especially look at those actions, which lead to severe damages at health (according to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute).
In addition to that, part IV.1 of this letter shows the real suspected motive, namely to give more for the stability of the financial sector (especially of big banks according to the „too big to fail“ – hypothesis), than this is allowed with respect to the financial means, which must remain to fulfill those obligations, which are secured by human rights, and than the peoples themselves, if they were orderly informed and asked, would ever allow.
The investigation at the ICC of the systematical accepting of the humanitarian catastrophe at Greece is, at the same time, necessary, in order to prevent its systematical spread onto all states of the eurozone, and to prevent the pushing back of the universal human rights and the Roman Statute by means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
I request for the start of investigations on Greece, even though the completion of the investigations might take a long time with respect to older already pending proceedings. Because here, the start of investigations can still prevent the, because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, threatening creation of cases of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute in all states of the eurozone. What the IMF has done to the health system in countries like Albania, Bangla Desh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Peru, Ruanda, Romania, Somalia, Ukraine, and Vietnam, is threatening to all states of the eurozone because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU. The Greek people already today is being used as a test case within the eurozone for this. Even if the pain, which the IMF has caused to the peoples outside Europe, has been enabled possibly also because of a neglect of the control of representatives of European states over the IMF, may this not go on account of the peoples of Europe, which have been left systematically in ignorance regarding the IMF for decades. The losses of human lifes in the eurozone to be expected are rather comparable to Ruanda (hundredthousands) than to the recent cases at Nigeria (Boko Haram suspected for over 1.000 deaths) or Guinea (army suspected for over 150 deaths). So I request to at least give the official start of the investigations on Greece the timely priority, which is adequate to systematic attack and to the large scope.
(for numbers on Nigeria and Guinea see taz-article „Spart sich die Welt ihr Weltgericht“ of the 15.11.2012, Link http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/digitaz/artikel/ressort=au&dig=2012%2F11%2F15%2Fa0115&cHash=75451582 500fbd21ed22ec150aac90f7 )
I. the connection between the Roman Statute and the universal human rights
I have, as well as the Greeks, who have filed the charge, the legal point of view, that the Roman Statute is to be interpreted according to the universal human rights. Historically and regarding legal philosophy, the universal human rights are the basis for putting crimes like genocide or crimes against humanity under hard penalties. Among the universal human rights, besides the human dignity (art. 1 UDHR), which is the legal basis of the indivisibility of the universal human rights, the universal human right to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) is of eminent importance. According to no. 1 general comment no. 14 to the UN Social Pact, the sense of the human right to health is the ability to lead a life in dignity. Also for this reason, the human right to health is the only universal human right, which explicitely garantuees the, for the respective human being, highest attainable standard of health. According to no. 32, the principal prohibition of retrogression (which results from the social progression clause of art. 2 par. 1 UN Social Pact) has the effect regarding the human right to health, that the state has regarding retrogessions at the human right to health, not only the burden of proof, that all available financial means have already been exhausted before, but also the the burden of proof, that these retrogressions are justified with a view to the total of the rights of the Social Pact. This means, if cuts need to be made regarding the realization of the universal social human rights, then these cuts need to be done, relatively less regarding health than regarding any other social human rights.
Also regarding the universal human right to food (art. 11 Social Pact), the central importance of the human dignity (art. 1 UDHR) and of the human right to health (art. 12 Social Pact) is shown. For, according to no. 8 general comment no. 12 to the UN Social Pact, the core of the human right to food includes the availability of food in sufficient amount and quality needed for the nutritional needs of every single human being, which is free of detrimental substances and acceptable in the respective culture; and the access to food should take place sustainably and should not violate the enjoyment of other human rights.
This shows the special importance of the universal human rights to health and to food also for the interpreta- tion of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
II. On the definition of a crime against humanity
A crime against humanity (art. 7 Roman Statute) includes attacks, which are large or systematical, and which are done against the civil population with knowledge of the attack. We regard in this case especially as relevant lit. k (encompasses also affectedness of social groups), and lit. h. The largeness and sytematical attack becomes most visible at the example of the Greek health system., and at the example of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
It is sufficient, if either the large scope or the systematical attack is there.
III. The systematical attack on the health at Greece
III.1 how the conditions against Greece systematically destroy the Greek health system
The memorandum of understanding of the trroika (EU Commission, International Monetary Fund IMF, and European Central Bank ECB) in the scope of financial support of the EFSF of February 2012 obliged Greece, to direct all revenues of the state onto a blocked account, in order to preeminently pay the external creditors (see German and English translation for the German Bundestag of the memorandum of unterstanding via Greece from February 2012, file number „Drucksache 17/8731“). http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/087/1708731.pdf
The blocked account refers, as the Hellas Frappe article „How Venizelos Robbed State Institutions To Complete Bond Swap“ of the 26.03.2012 shows, not only to future revenues, because, at the 09.03.2012 credits of ca. 1.4 billion € of various public institutions, among them universities and hospitals, have been complety taken away without warning from one day to another, and have been transferred to the blocked acocunt at the Bank of Greece, which has had already been implemented according to the memorandum of understanding. Even public hospitals have suddenly been without any credit on their banking account with respective effects on their work. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/03/how-venizelos-regime-robbed-state.html
In addition to that, the Troika obliges Greece, to reduce the total amount of the employers’ contribution to the social insurance by 5%, alone by cuts in services and moderating fees, and without any compensation through tax-financed subsidies. Moreover, the Troika wants Greece to reach a budget surplus of 4.5 % of the GDP. The Troika wants to reach this surplus, especially by deep structural reforms at the side of the expenditures, among them drastical cuts in the social insurances and closing down parts of the public administration, which are regarded to be not cost-efficient enough. The Troika demands from the social insurance concrete measures for the protection of its central parts (which in most states could mean pension and health insurance) and of the weakest of the Greek society, but the Troika does not demand, that these measures must be sufficient for the preservation of the central parts and for the survival of the poorest groups of the population. The Troika put the main burden of the austerity measures at the social system. Besides that, the Troika also demands austerity measures in the defense area. The permanent marginalization of the social system is so important to the Troika, that for the case of a budgetary relief, it explicitely does not want to allow the relief of the social system, but to enforce a further reduction of the social insurance contributions.
Apart from that, the revenue of the Greek social insurance has also decreased because of the recession, the unemployment (to which the loosening of the protection against wrongful dismissal, which the Troika has had enforced in 2010, has contributed), and because of reductions of the wages.
With the conditions of the Troika, the humanitarian catastrophe, has obviously willingly be risked. The assessment, who has the responsibility for that under penalty law, is the task of the International Criminal Court. I do regard it as possible, that persons outside the political positions have a big part of the responsibility.
III.2 the humanitarian catastrophe in the Greek health system
The money in the Greek public health insurance has become so scarce, that the ambulant patients as well as the patients in hospital have to advance the money for their medicaments.
taz article „keine Heilung auf Rezept“ of the 05.06.2012
www.taz.de/!94746/
taz article „Krise in Griechenland: Rentner stürmen Ministerium“ of the 05.09.2012
www.taz.de/!108028/
Also the article „Greek Pensioners ‘Storm’ Health Ministry“ from September 2012 confirms, that the health insured people have to advance the payment for their medicaments. In addition to that, they even already have to pay in advance for ambulant visits to the doctor, which reminds of the situation at Romania. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/09/greek-pensioners-storm-health-ministry.html
The article „Minister of Health Puts End to Agony of Cancer Patients Who Could Not Find Medi-cines“ of the 05.06.2012 exposes, why the supply with cancer medicaments at Greece has been relieved in the middle of 2012. It has been not more than a momentary benefit in face of the elections. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/06/minister-of-health-puts-end-to-agony-of-html
The article „Crisis in Health Care Hurts Access to Vital Medicines“ of June 2012 reports on a press confe- rence of Greek patients’ associations on „the barbarity of the economic crisis and the devaluation of human life“ in view of the effects of the liquidity shortage in the Greek public health insurance. Multiple sklerosis patients need about 1.000,- € for medicine per month; without these medicaments, their disease proceeds. The association of dialysis patients of Northern Greece reports on casualties because fo the lack of dialysis filters, which are are supplied by the pharmacists only after payment. The association of young diabetes patients reported on problems with blood donations because of a lack of medical materials. Cancer patients, whose medicaments cost between 200,- € and 4.000,- € per patient and month, often remain medically unsupplied because of the costs. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/06/crisis-in-health-care-decreases-access.html
89,7 % of the Greeks have, according to a poll, difficulties, to afford the medicine they need. At Attika, the cardiology and the vascular clinic have been closed. At Rhodos, Chios, and Lerissa, patients have to pay by themselves for disposable materials.
At the 8th international heart congress, an increase of depressions and of strokes, and a quadruplication of heart attacks with at the same time difficulties in paying the heart medicaments has been reported. According to the Greek health ministry, the number of suicides has increased by 45 % from the first semester 2010 to the first semester 2011.
In an open letter to all Greeak political parties and to the ministries of health and of finance, 23 associations of cancer patients have described the suffering of this group of patients, who not only have to pay for their medicine, but even for their disposable materials, und of whom many have been waiting (according to the charge) already for 6 months, if and when their insurance will reimburse their costs to them. The lack of medicaments in hospitals at Greece has already reached the extent of a humanitarian catastrophe, as the medical association of Greece has warned in a letter to the United Nations.
(source for the in the following paragraph quoted numbers is the Greek charge already filed to the ICC)
III.3 human rights expert criticizes Greek austerity measures
In view of the special importance of the universal human rights for the interpretation of the Roman Statute, also the opinion of the independent expert of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations on the effect of the financial crisis on the realization of the universal human rights, is of eminent importance, because it shows, that the conditions of the Troika do not show any serious orientation on the universal human rights.
The independent expert of the UN Human Rights Council on foreign debt and human rights, Cephas Lumina, has, already in 2011, stated the violation of universal human rights by the then second austerity package for Greece (article „Greek austerity measures violate human rights, UN expert says“ of the 01.07.2011). www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38901&Cr=austerity&Cr1
He has explicitely emphasized the preeminence of the universal human rights, and has urged the Greek government to remain proportionate regarding the austerity measures. He recommended, especially to respect the universal human rights to food, water, and housing (all art. 11 UN Social Pact) and to fair and equitable conditions (art. 7 UN Social Pact). He regarded as especially affected by the then privatizations and expenditure cuts poor, elderly, jobless, and handicapped people.
Mr. Lumina explicitely called ECB, IMF, and EU Commission, to remain conscious of the effects of their conditions on human rights for Greece and other states, and he predicted towards them, that there will be no permanent solution to the debt problem without taking into account the human rights.
He did not speak of an only insufficient consideration of the human rights, but his formulation „if the human rights of the people are not taken into account“ exposes, that the conditions of the Troika even do not show, in how far the Troika has considered the human rights at all in their process of drafting their conditions.
And these critical words even directly in view of the UN special organization IMF have been published at a time, when Mr. Lumina could not have known, how deeply the Greek health system would be attacked by the conditions of February 2012.
III.5 the attack on the nutrition at Greece
The study „Issues in measuring absolute poverty: The case of Greece“ by Thanasis Maniatis, Yannis Bassakios, George Labrindinis, and Costas Passas from May 2011 deals with the definition of an absolute poverty line for Greece. For the the assessment regarding human rights as well as for the assessment regarding universal penalty law, the absolute poverty line is crucial. There is also a relative poverty line, which says only, how many per cent of the population have an income of less than 50% respectively 60% of the average income. Table 1 on page. 6 of the study shows the little meaningfulness of the relative poverty line, where countries like Hungary or Slovakia have a significant better ranking than the significantly richer Canada, where even for the poorest one of the best health systems of the world is available, which is shown by the good ranking of Canada within the human development index of the UNDP.
link to Greek study: http://www.iippe.org/wiki/images/8/80/CONF_2011_Thanasis_Maniatis.pdf
link to human development index: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Table1.pdf
The study defines the poverty line for the year 2009 according to the needed financial means for the areas accomodation, food, clothing, and transport, differenciated each for households with one to five persons, and differentiated to tenants and to persons, who only have to pay the additional costs for their accomodation. This way, the study come to the following costs of living for the year 2009 (page 27):
Persons
1
2
3
4
5
Poverty line with rent (in €)
809,38
1186,37
1495,37
1820,33
2189,24
Poverty line without rent (in €)
518,38
803,37
1022,73
1252,33
1517,24
Who has less than these amounts to his disposal at Greece, has too little for either accomodation, food, clothing, or transport. The deeper the income is below these numbers, the higher is the probability, that the respective persons are starving.
The study has been completed in 2011 for 2009. The creation of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Greek health sector has been caused and is being caused, as shown in parts III.1 and III.2 of this letter, especially by the conditions of the Troika since February 2012. For the definition of the minimal living income at Greece today, it would also be necessary to add to the numbers above the average moderating fees or costs completely carried by the patients, either relating to all Greek patients, or related to the health status of the poorer groups of the population, or to differentiate the numbers to be added more to specific expensive, but not rare, diseaes (such as e. g. cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, or kidney diseases).
As far as expensive diseases appear, starvation probably also exists for people with an income above the absolute poverty line.
The study shows in table 3 on page 28, that the standard wage NGCLA in 2009 for a single person is at
590,- € and for two working parents at together 1.300,- €. That has been the situation before the interventions of the Troika into the law of the collective labour agreements. And it has already been at that time below the absolute poverty line. In how far there have or are higher collective labour agreements for specific segments of the economy, is not known to me.
According to the Ekathimerini article „Over 2 mln Greeks living below poverty line in 2010“ of the 02.11.2012, referring to the Greek statistics authority ELSTAT 2,34 million Greek people have lived in 2010 below the poverty line.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_02/11/2012_468462
In this regard, Ekathimerini refers to the absolute poverty line 2010 according to ELSTAT of 6.591,- € per person (so 549,25 € per month). The number of private households below the poverty line in 2010 has been 901.190.
These ELSTAT numbers are confirmed by the article „Over 2.3 mln Greeks living below poverty line“ of the Azeri medium APA of the 03.11.2012.
http://en.apa.az/news/181884
And the poverty line according to ELSTAT is already set very low. Because a more exact look into table 2 of the above mentioned Greek study of May 2011 shows, that a one person – household has needed already in ts 2009 for accomodation (rent and additional costs) and food together (431, 69 € + 101,13 € =) 542,82 €, so that with the poverty line according to ELSTAT nearly nothing would remain for clothing and transport.
According to the Phantis article „More than 400,000 children hungry at Greece“ of the 06.04.2012, 20,1 % of the households and 439.000 children at Greece are living below the poverty line. www.phantis.com/news/more-400000-children-hungry-greece
Phantis concludes from this the undernourishment of these children. These numbers are from the report „The State of the Children in Greece Report“ of UNICEF Greece, published in March 2012. link:http://www.unicef.gr/pdfs/State_of_the_Children_in_Greece_Report_2012_Summary.pdf
The UNICEF Greece report, in turn refers regarding the 439.000 children under the poverty line to numbers of the EU statistics authority EUROSTAT for 2010.
Unfortunately, it is not known to me, at which monthly amount UNICEF Greece defines the poverty line.
Of these 20,1 %, according to Phantis, the nutrition of 21,6 % (so related the total population 4,34 %) lacks of animal protein.
According to Phantis, the poverty line at Greece is at 470,- € per month. Der Phantis-Artikel sees the official poverty line related to a household of 4 persons. I presume, that a poverty line of 470,- € per person of such a household respectively for the total household (4 * 470,- € =) 1.880,- € per month is meant.
Phantis says, that, according to official estimations, 21% of the Greeks are living below the poverty line. The medium itself estimates 25% (2,8 million of a total of 11,2 million Greeks). The Greek network on the fight against poverty (EAPN) is quoted, that soon 30% will be reached; this number has recently be confirmed by a study of the foundation for economical and industrial research (IOBE).
In addition to that, according to Phantis, 400.000 Greek families are without any income from work.
Even though I do not know the exact number of starving people at Greece, the numbers explained above, however, show clearly, that in a large scale and systematically, it is being accepted, that millions of people at Greece are threatened of starvation.
III.5 drastical cuts at Portugal and Spain and hunger at Spain
At Spain, a humanitarian catastrophe in the area of nutrition already exists because of the austerity measures. Spain and Portugal are moving in big steps towards a humanitarian catastrophe in the health sector.This shows, that the disregard of the social universal human rights regarding the austerity measures for the obtai- ning of the means for the banks, can lead to humanitarian catastrophes within few years or even only months, regarding to which questions regarding art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute arise.
In the parts III.1+III.2 of this letter, the connection between concrete conditions of a memorandum of understanding and its effects for the health have, at least for Greece, been shown.
For Spain and Portugal, for this purpose, also the humanitarian effects would have to be compared to the conditions, in order to relate, what has been effected by the conditions of the Troika within EFSM respectively EFSF, what by the conditions within the deficit procedure, what is possibly caused by the policy in these countries. But that is not the topic of this letter. Here shall, at the moment insofar only be shown, that the interference of the ICC regarding Greece is necessary also in the sense of the preventing art. 7 Roman Statute for Portugal and Spain. Already the official start of investigations on Greece by the ICC will set a decisive sign, in order to save the lives of countless patients and of starving long-term jobless people also at Portugal and Spain.
Latest after the enactment of art. 136 Abs. 3 AEUV, austerity measures are threatening in all states of the eurozone, which systematically intervene so deeply especially into the human right to the, for the respective human being, attainable highest degree of health (art. 12 UN Social Pact), but also into the universal human right to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact), that in all these states including Germany the crimes against humanity according to art. 7 par 1 lit. k Roman Statute are threatening (see part IV. of this letter).
This is shown by the attack on the health system of Portugal, where, according to the taz article „ein Monatslohn für den Staat“ of the 17.10.2012 with 19,5% the biggest procentual cuts are planned in the health sector. Within a few months, if such drastical cuts were implemented, also at Portugal questions regarding the Roman Statute could arise.
www.taz.de/1/archiv/print-archiv/printarchiv/digi-artikel/? ressort=wu&dig=2012%2F10%2F17%2Fa0078&cHash=7f2d249bc2f961c58e314a22d0d1791
Moreover, friends of me from the province Alentejo have told us, that the hospital responsible for the region can only do an emergence supply any more, and that you already today have to drive from there with a broken bone or after a heart attack more than 250 kilometers, if you need more than an emergency treatment. The situation at Portugal is already today much worse, than it had been visible by the original memorandum of understanding at 2011.
According to the taz article „Spanien spart sich seinen Sozialstaat“ of the 25.10.2012, now also at Spain, at least 22,6 % from the tax revenues for the health system shall be streaked out. www.taz.de/1/archiv/digitaz/artikel? ressort=au&dig=2012%2F10%2F25%2Fa0045&cHash=446287ecd7fa9eba54bf3bea93e63877
And the inhumanity is exposed in very clearness at Spain, where the Red Cross, for the first time in the history of the country, has asked for food donations in view of 300.000,- starving people (taz article „Spanien abgewertet“ of the 12.10.2012).
www.taz.de/1/archiv/print-archiv/printarchiv/digi-artikel/? ressort=wu&dig=2012%2F10%2F12%2Fa0157&cHash=0b7863dd0a47968dd5af10cee8a2f786
III.6 further destruction of the health sector at Romania
Romania is one of the states, which have got, under EU regulaton (EG) 332/2002 an emergency loan with strict conditions. This regulation is similar to the EFSM of the european financial mechanism, but for EU member states outside the eurozone.
At Romania, not only the reduction of the pensions by 15% has been demanded and been rushed through by government and parliament, but also moderating fees for the ambulant medical supply, even though at Romania already before the IMF (respectively the Troika) for stays at the hospital everything from medicaments to material has had to be paid by the patients themselves, and the health insurance has paid nearly only the work of the doctor, and even though the hygiene at the hospital is so bad, that many patients are infected there with tuberculosis. Now even the amubulant health care shall be taken away from the poor. 150 to 200 of the 435 Romanian hospitals are going to be closed and the rest to be transferred to the Romanian municipalities, most of them also are close to bankruptcy. Between 9.300 and 10.000 beds are going to be reduced in those hospitals, which are not directly going to be closed.
The mentioned numbers are from the year 2010, as the follwing links prove:
www.wsws.org/de/2010/jun2010/ruma-j09-shtml www.wsws.org/de/2010/apr2010/ruma-a5.shtml www.wsws.ord/de/2010/jun2010/ruma-j18.shtml
Also the taz confirms, that there have been since 2010, and still are, drastical cuts in the Romanian health system because of the conditions of the Troika. According to the article „Gott sei Dank nicht mehr in die Klinik“ of the 17.01.2012, the „health supply in the poorest EU country“ is collapsing „piece for piece“. The health expenditures are with 3,5% to 4% of the GDP only at the half of the EU average. 40.000 doctors are missing in the country, tenthousands of doctors and male nurses have emigrated. In some rural regions there is „scarcely health supply, in some small towns only very limited.“
According to the article, an orderly medical treatment is only available with bribery. The sufferers are poor and old people.
Because of the austerity measures, among them, besides drastical cuts in the health system, also cuts of the wages in the public sector by 25% and of the pensions and of many social benefits by between 15% and 25%, meanwhile already 3 million Romanians have emigrated, most of them to Italy, Spain, and Germany. www.taz.de/!85782/
Romania’s health sector has already been severely damaged by the IMF in the 1990ies (part V.2 of this letter).
IV. proof of the systematical nature of the attack by means of the „little treaty change“ (art. 136 par. 3 TFEU)
IV.1 safeguarding the financial sector as the real cause of the excessive strictness
The pain caused by the excessive conditions at the cost of the Greeks, has not primarily to do with the Greeks. The liquidity problems of the country have only been used as an opportunity, in order to be able to establish more and more mechanisms for the securing of the financial sector. This is the real suspected motive of the crime.
The Greeks have been chosen as only the first victims. The Germans like all inhabitants of the eurozone are going to be treated later, namely of the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
A new art. 136 par. 3 TFEU is going to be inserted into the EU primary law, whose wording is as follows:
„The Member States whose currency is the euro, may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject under strict conditionality.“
Links: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/118578.pdf
This does, however, not really aim at the stability of the common currency, neither at the inner stability, nor at the stability of the exchange rate, and also not at putting the public finances onto their feet again, but only at the „financial stability“.
This is proven by:
-par. 2+4 of the considerations of the 16./17.12.2010 to the initiation of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/118578.pdf
-no. 11 of the conclusions of the European Council of the 23./24.06.2011, according to which the Prime Ministers want to do everything for the „financial stability“ www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/123075.pdf
The conclusions of the summit of the 24./25.03.2011 prove the definition of „financial stability“ as the stability of the financial sector, i. e. especially of banks. www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/120296.pdf
By means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, one wants to create always new mechanisms for the safeguarding of banks, of whom hitherto especially two groups of mechanisms are known, namely those of the European financial mechanism („Greece support“, EFSM, EFSF, and ESM) and those for the enabling of the EU Commission as the „EU economic government“ (tightening of the Stability and Growth Pact, Imbalance Procedure, and Budgetary Survaillance).
In the European financial mechanism, the conditions are always drafted by the „Troika“, consisting EU Commission, IMF, and ECB, under the lead of the EU Commission, and are decided by the financial ministers respectively by their permanent secretaries (in the EFSF) or (as a possibility in the ESM) by directors, who are chosen by the financial ministers. Within the Stability and Growth Pact and the Imbalance Mechanism as well as in a part of the Budgetary Surveillance, the conditions are drafted by the EU Commission and decided by the EU Council of Ministers. Within a part of the Budgetary Surveillance, the EU Commission itself decides on the conditions. And the ESM prohibits via collective action clauses every sovereignly managed state bankruptcy, in order to force the countries of the eurozone, when they are bankrupt, into a state insolvency procedure, in which they get additional political conditions by their private creditors (part IV.4 of this letter).
All these mechanisms of the „European financial mechanism“ aim at giving loans to states of the eurozone with liquidity problems, in order to enable them to pay their hitherto creditors, or (only with EFSF and ESM) to recapitalizie banks, and the countries get „strict“ conditions at the cost of their inhabitants. The tightening of the Growth and Stability Pact aims at strict conditions for states with too high deficit or too high debt, the Imbalance Procedure at strict interventions of the EU Commission into into any matters of wage, finance, or economic policy of the member states, and the Economic Surveillance at any interventions of the EU Commission into the draft budgets of the governments of the member states.
All these mechanisms are primarily directed to bringing together enough financial means for the securing of the „financial stability“ of the financial sector at the cost of the other inhabitants of the member states.
To the populations of the EU member states, however, it has been pretended, that the aim was the protection of the currency and of the public finances. It seems very improbable, that the Prime Ministers of all 17 states of the eurozone or even alle 27 Prime Ministers of all countries of the European Union would ever consciously put the „financial stability“ of the financial sector above the rights of their inhabitants.
I rather believe, that for the question of guilt before the ICC for the suffering caused against the Greeks, it could be of significant importance, who has invented this deception.
IV.2 the obligation to the „strictness“ as the system of inhumanity
All financial assistances in the scope of mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 s. 1 TFEU for the protection of the „financial stability“ of the financial sector would be connected, according to art. 136 par. 3 s. 2 TFEU, to „strict“ conditions.
The „strictness“ of the conditions is for all these mechanisms planned as in the „practice“ of the IMF (Ecofin Council (economic and financial ministers in the EU Council of Ministers) of the 10.05.2010) respectively „very strict“ according to no. 49 of the report of the „task force“ of the 21.10.2010. The „task force“ included the federal finance ministers of alle EU member states as well as EU Commissioner Olli Rehn, the then ECB chef Jean-Claude Trichet, the chairman of the Eurogroup Jean Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, who at the same time leaded the task force.
conclusions of the economic and finance ministers (Ecofin) in the Council of Ministers of the 10.05.2010 (file number SN 2564/1/10) http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/__Anlagen/2010/20100510beschluesseeurolaenderfinanzministe r,property=publicationFile.pdf
recommendations of the „task force“ of the 21.10.2010
www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/117326.pdf
The ESM, in addition to that, is obliged by art. 3 ESM Treaty, to make „strict“ conditions.
www.eurozone.europa.eu/media/582866/02-tesm2/de12.pdf
The economic government is obliged by consideration no. 3 in connection with art. 6 of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD), to impose „strict „ conditoins (see also part IV.3 of this letter) http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_strength_eco_en.pdf
In addition to that, all conditions within the EFSF are, according to the preamble of the EFSF Framework Treaty, planned as strict as they are towards Greece:
see EFSF Framework Treaty of the 07.06.2010
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/nn_1270/DE/Wirtschaft__und__Verwaltung/Europa/20100609- Schutzschirm-Euro-Anlage__1,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf
in 2011 concluded modified EFSF Framework Treaty (draft of the 26.08.2011)
http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/upload/pdf/110902_EFSF_Rahmenvertrag_Anpassung.pdf
The „practice“ of the IMF is something completely different than the content of the statute of the IMF. In the statute of the IMF, there is no obligation to inhumanity at all. By means of an excessive immunity against penalty law and against liability as well as by means of excessive payment, however, the standards of moral and of viewing the world are, within the IMF, in a way shifted, resulting in IMF conditions without any respect to basic rights and to human rights of the inhabitants of the debtor countries.
The Roman Statute is the basis solely for the prosecution of crimes, which have been committed at the 01.07.2002 or later, like the suspected crime against humanity against the Greek people. For crimes before that date, a prosecution is not possible by the ICC, but possibly by international ad hoc – courts like those for Ruanda and Jugoslavia or by national courts of the respective victim state.
In view of the systematical obligation of the conditions to a strictness as in the „practice“ of the IMF, which would be valid with the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, it is however crucial for the interpretation, what a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF means, to look also at older conditions – for the proof, that an obligation to the strictness as in the „practice“ of the IMF implies, to intervene, for the securing of the financial sector, so deep into the human rights to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) and to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact), that this reaches systematically up to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
The initiation of an investigation by the ICC is necessary also in order to set a crucial sign just in time, in order to prevent the systematic inhumanity from being entrenched with the rank of EU primary law by means of art. 136 par. 3 s. 2 TFEU, because this would put this strictness, from the perspective of the EU, over any law of the United Nations !
IV.3 the Budgetary Surveillance and the instrumentalization of EU funds
EU regulation 2011/385 (COD) is together with EU regulation 2011/0386 (COD) planned as the EU secondary law legal basis for the Budgetary Surveillance of the states of the eurozone by the EU Commission. You find it at the link: http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_strength_eco_en.pdf
Via consideration 3 and art. 6 of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD), the EU Commission could impose on every country of the eurozone, which receives financial support by one or several other states, by the IMF, the EFSF, or the ESM, additional „strict“ conditions, whereas these mainly found consist in stricter versions of already exististing conditions from the deficit procedure (of the Stability and Growth Pact) and of the Imbalance Procedure.
If these tightened conditions are not fulfilled, as additional sanctions towards the respective country would be used the cut of the EU funds (named in consideration no. 7) ELER agricultural funds (especially for extensive and for ecological agriculture), EU social funds, EU fishery funds, EU structural funds (for rural regions), and EU cohesion funds (for poor regions).
EU regulation 2011/0386 (COD) enables, via its articles 5, 6, and 9, the EU Commission, to intervene in any draft budgets of the countries of the eurozone. http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_monito_assess_en.pdf
The national and regional parliaments of the states of the eurozone could still decide on their budgets, but the non-compliance of the „opinions“ (art. 6) of the Commission by the member states would take them auto- matically (art. 9) into the deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact, even if their deficit and their debts are not excessive, or if they even reduce their debts.
By means of art. 21 of EU regulation 2011/0276 (COD), cutting the same EU funds as by means of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD) is planned for the case of non-compliance with conditions. The difference is, that according to art. 21 par. 1 EU regulation 2011/0276 (COD) would prescribe the instrumentalization for putting through the conditions of (lit. b) the deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact, of (lit. c) the Imbalance Procedure, of (lit. d i.) the EFSM, of (lit. d ii.) the financial mechanism for the EU member states without the euro (as e. g. Romania) (regulation (EG) Nr. 332/2002), and of (lit. d iii.) of the ESM. http://ec.europa.eu/edf/BlobServlet?docId=233&langId=en
The combination of any interventions into the draft budgets and of the instrumentalization of the named EU funds would make especially the poorer regions, the family agriculture, and the ecological agriculture, and even food aid via the eu social fund, dependend on the mercy of the Commission. The possibility of healthy respectively of corporate-free nutrition in the states of the eurozone would become a political pound of the Commssion – and that combined with a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF (art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, part IV.2 of this letter).
In the case of non-compliance with the conditions, agricultural enterprises would be ruined, and food aid would be reduced or ended, as a result of the cuts into the mentioned EU funds. Both would increase the number of starving people in the eurozone and would contribute to further cases of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statuten. Also this shows the systematical attack and the large scope.
IV.4 political power partly in the hands of the private creditors via the state insolvency procedure of the ESM
The ESM is the hardest of the mechanisms tied to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU. The even in comparison to the IMF stronger immunity of the ESM will probably only be broken by art. 27 Roman Statute or by constitutional judgements to come. The ESM is planned as an independent international organization with, at first, a rank of simple international law, thus below the „ius cogens“, below the EU law, and below every national constituion. A later elevation of the ESM Treaty to the rank of EU primary law, however, is planned according to the prolog and the epilog of the statement to the euro summit of the 09.12.2011.
link: http://ralpherns.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/documento_cumbre_bruselas_9d_2011.pdf Additionally to the obligation to the strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF, art. 12 par. 3 ESM
Treaty obliges all countries of the eurozone, to attach collective action clauses to all of their bonds, which they emit starting from the 01.01.2013.
As the law „Gesetz zur Änderung des Bundesschuldenwesengesetzes“ (file number 17/9049) in Germany as one of the accompanying laws to the ESM proves, these collective action clauses are made to prohibit to the countries of the eurozone any souvereignly managed state bankruptcy, and to force them instead into the state insolvency procedure of the ESM, where on them are imposed political conditions not only by the Troika, but also by the private creditors, where the biggest private creditors of the states (the big banks) would have high shares of the votes because of the level of their financial claims. Link:http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/090/1709049.pdf
By means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU and the ESM, an anti – human rights, partial, and radical representation of bank interests is going to be legalized over the whole eurozone, without any respect to the human rights of the population, which exists with the IMF at least since the 1980ies, and which is called „Vienna Initiative“ (see also part V.4 of this letter).
IV.5 how art. 136 par. 3 TFEU threatens to oust the universal law
The IMF law has the rank of normal international law, it stands like the vast majority of international law just one stage above the simple national law (art. 27 Vienna Treaty Law Convention), and so clearly below the universal human rights, which belong to the „ius cogens“.
The IMF itself is not bound to the universal human rights, but because of the preeminence of the universal human rights in comparison to the IMF law, no debtor state has ever been entitled or obliged, to fulfill the conditions of the IMF any further, than they are compatible with the universal human rights.
The UN Charter is, according to its own art. 103, the highest-ranking international treaty. Because the UN Charter, at the same obliges to the respect for the sovereignty of the states (art. 2 par. 1 UN Charter), the UN Charter itself, as a result, is positioned directly below the national constitutions of the UN member states, but above any other international treaties.
The rank of the universal human rights, i. e. the UDHR and the human rights treaties of the United Nations, is, regarded from the perspective of the universal human rights law itself, below the UN Charter (art. 29 no. 3 UDHR), but above the rest of the international law (art. 28 UDH, art. 1 no. 3 UN Charter), except for the Geneva and Haag Conventions of humanitarian law, which are equal-ranking to the universal human rights (ICJ advisory opinion of the 08.07.1996 “Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 8 July 1996, The Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Reports 1996”).
The UN Charter and the universal human rights belong to the „ius cogens“, the highest category of nearly world-wide valid international law (no. 279-282 of the judgement of the EU Court of First Instance on file number T-306/01, and the ICJ advisory opinion of the 08.07.1996 mentioned above).
Also the prohibition of the criminal acts, which are included in the Roman Statute, must be „ius cogens“, because before the Roman Statute there has been a resolution of the UN General Assembly of 1946, but a ratified international treaty has existed not before the Roman Statute. The ad hoc courts at Nuremburg, on Japan, on Ruanda, and on Yugoslavia can, in view of the prohibition derived from human rights (art. 11 par. 2 UDHR) of retroactive penalty, only have had a valid legal basis within the „ius cogens“.
In my legal point of view, also the Roman Statute itself is „ius cogens“, because prescriptions like that for the one for breaking through even the immunity of other international organizations (art. 27 Roman Statute) is a clear argument for „ius cogens“.
The TEU and the TFEU and the protocols and annexes to these two treaties are the EU primary law. The EU primary law has, from its own perspective, a rank above the national constitutions of the member states (art. 1 TEU, art. 51 TEU, declaration no.17 in the annexes to TFEU and TEU). This stands in contradiction to the rank of the UN Charter and of the universal human rights, because also the EU law is international law.
The constitutional courts react, depending on their constitutional situation, differently on the rank claim of the EU law. According to continuous jurisdiction of the Polish constitutional court, the Polish constitution is the highest law at Poland and so stands also above the EU law (see e. g. Judgement of the 16.11.2011). The German constitutional court regards since the Lisbon judgement of the 30.06.2009 the constitutional identity (especially basic rights and structure principles, but also the state objectives peace principle (art. 1 par. 2
Basic Law, see foreword of this letter) and European integration (art. 23 Basic Law)) as standing above the EU law (basic principle 4 and no. 216+217 Lisbon judgement), but allows the EU primary law a rank above the rest of the German Basic Law (no. 240) – except for the common foreign and safety policy of the EU (no. 255 + 342), which has the rank of only normal international law. According to basic principle 3 of the Lisbon judgement, the implementation of the EU law has to leave enough space for the universal human rights, but the German constitutional court has not clarified, if it regards the EU secondary law (EU guidelines, EU regulations, etc.) or the universal human rights as higher-ranking.
Also the Latvian constitutional court has in its judgement of the 22.12.2009 (file number 2009-43-01) confirmed the preemince of the basic rights and structure principles of the Latvian constitution before the EU law.
In art. 29 par. 4 no. 10 of the Irish constitution, however, an explicit preeminence of the EU law before the Irish constitution is prescribed.
The EU law, even though the high rank it claims for itself, does NOT belong to the „ius cogens“, because this category comes only into consideration for law, which is at least nearly world-wide valid.
These examples show, that the rank claims of the EU law and of the universal human rights stand in compe- tition to each other, and that many EU member states regard the EU primary law (except for the common foreign and safety policy CFSP), but not necessarily the EU secondary law, as standing above the universal human rights.
If now art. 136 par. 3 TFEU entered into force, then, at least from the view of the EU law and of most EU member states, the systematical obligation to always new mechanisms for the „financial stability“ with a strictness, which ignores the universal human rights and reaches on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, would stand above the universal human rights and also above the Roman Statute.
This woud imply, that because of art. 136 par. 3 AEUV, the human rights and also the Roman Statute would systematically only be applied in the countries of the eurozone any more, as they are compatible with conditions of the Troika, whose strictness would reach, because of the obligation to the „practice“ of the IMF, on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
In addition to that, art. 351 TFEU (the former art. 226 TEC) obliges the EU member states, as far as these are bound to international treaties, which collide with EU primary law, to eliminate these incompabilies with the EU primary law.
How far this obligation can go from the perspective of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), shows its judgement of the 01.02.2005 in the case Commission v. Austria (file number C-203/03) (no. 61 of the judgement), that Austria had to terminate the ILO Convention no. 45 for the protection of women in mining with effect to the next possible date provided for in that treaty, because this convention collidies with an EU guideline (with EU secondary law). The collision has been, that the EU guideline has given more importance to the equal rights between men and women, and the ILO convention has given more importance to the protection of women against kinds of work in mining, which are hard or are risky to health.
So in the judgement on C-203/03, the ECJ has forced Austria to terminate its membership in an ILO convention with the rank of normal international law, because this convention has collided with EU secondary law, even though the then art. 226 TEC (today art. 351 TFEU) is a legal basis for an obligation to terminate international treaties only in cases of collisions with EU primary law. Link:http://curia.europa.eu/juris/showPdf.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30db92332c9a56434bba8c9fbf45957d246 3.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxuKbNn0? text=&docid=49900&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=553937
After the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, art. 351 TFEU would have the effect, that the countries of the eurozone would, from the point of view of the EU law, be obliged to loosen their obligations to the universal human rights and to the Roman Statute of the ICC in a way, that would make sure, that they could not impede always new mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, which have strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF and ignoring all human rights. This would most probably mean, that the countries would be obliged, to add a reservation to the universal human rights treaties ratified by the respecitve countries, to the UDHR, an to the Roman Statute, in the way, that the universal human rights and the universal penalty law would not be applicable any more to the respective state, insofar as the conditions of mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU are concerned.
At Greece, already today the universal human rights to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) and to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact) are violated by the conditions of the Troika to such an extent and so systematically, that there obviously is a case of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, but by means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU the universal human rights themselves would be pushed aside.
IV.6 how art. 136 par. 3 TFEU would lay the axe on the EU itself
According to art. 53 Vienna Treaty Law Convention and to art. 64 Vienna Treaty Law Convention, international treaties, which are incompatible with the „ius cogens“, are void.
Art. 136 par. 3 TFEU with its obligation to cruelty and at the same time with its claimed rank above all law of the United Nations, is, as especially shown in the parts IV.2 +IV.3 of this letter, obviously incompatible with the „ius cogens“ of the universal human rights and of the Roman Statute.
Art. 71 Vienna Treaty Law Convention includes the possibility, to change international treaties, which collide with „ius cogens“, in order to avoid the voidness of these treaties.
This shows, that art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, which would entrench the inhumanity, which is happening at Greece, into EU primary law, and which proves the systematical nature of this cruelty, threatens the legal existence of the TFEU and thus threatens the legal existence of the EU.
This isn’t any originary conflict between the EU and the UN at all, but a „hostile takeover“, as one would name it at the stock exchange, of the EU for the securing and the enrichment of banks, for which is even being risked, that the very legal basis of the existence of the EU becomes invalid.
V. exemples for the strictness of the „practice“ of the IMF, reaching on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute
This part serves to further prove, what a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF is, and that for the case of non-action of the ICC in view of the suspected crimes against humanity at Greece according to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, one can prognosticate comparable systematical excessively deep interventions in all countries of the eurozone because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
V.1 prognosticable conditions against the food supply
The credit conditions of the IMF destroy intentiously the ability of the states, to independently provide their own population with food, and they serve for the effect, that less areas are available for food cultivation and more areas for the export.
A central motive for the intentious decline of the food supply of the whole population of a debtor state seems to be, that this way whole peoples, and not only governments and parliaments, can easier be forced to obey to other conditions and to the debt servicing. Because food is, in contrast to capital, no societal fiction, but necessary for survival. The conditions always aim at making impossible a food supply independent of the world market. Most often, the currency devaluation imposed by the IMF, leads to market-distortingly high prices for the import of fertiliziers, pesticides, tractors, etc.; in addition to that, price limits for these imports are prohibited. The purchasing power of the domestic customers of the farmers is destroyed by the enforced reduction of wages and of social benefits. Social institutons for the farmers, e. g. for the distribution of water and for additional subventions in times of market price declines, are abolished. Support shipments of highly subventioned agrarian surpluses are, where trade liberalization does not suffice, used intentiously to ruin whole economical segments of family farmers. Where all this is not enough, sometimes smaller agricultural enterprizes are simply prohibited (e. g. at Peru) or projects are financed (e. g. at Mozambique), which imply the expulsion of formers. With the destruction of the family farmers structures and with the aim of the bigger enterprizes to the export, the states do not only become dependend on the import of fertilizer, pesticides, etc., but also on the import of food, which they have to pay in hard currency – and that together with an own currency, that has been artificially devaluated at the command of the IMF.
According to the chapter “50 Jahre Bretton Woods” („50 years Bretton Woods“) in Uwe Hoering’s book
“Zum Beispiel IWF & Weltbank” („for example IMF and World Bank“) (Süd-Nord Lamuv publishing house), riots have taken place because of cuts into subventions imposed by the IMF:
-1985 at Bolivia (because of cuts into food and fuel subventions)
-1986 at Zambia (because of cuts into food subventions)
-1989 at Venezuela (because of cuts into fuel and transport subventions)
The IMF has demanded, even during the Asia crisis, also from Indonesia cuts into the food and fuel subventions („Die Chancen der Globalisierung“, Joseph Stiglitz, Pantheon publishing house, p. 304).
The cuts into food subventions as IMF imposed conditions are no singular cases, but rather usual:
„…for Western banks, which wanted to safeguard their credits, money was there, but not for the minimal food subventions, which should save human beings from dying of starvation.“
(„Die Chancen der Globalisierung“, Joseph Stiglitz, Pantheon publishing house, p. 39)
At Somalia, a country, 50% of whose population have worked as livestock breeders (p. 97, „The Globaliziation of Poverty and the New World Order“, Prof. Dr. Michel Chossudovsky), since the beginning of the 1980ies, because of IMF conditions, the currency has been devaluated (resulting in rising costs of fuel and fertilizer, p. 96) , the grain market been deregulated (p. 96), the veterinary services been privatized (p. 96), the emergency supplys of animal fodder been abolished (p. 96), the water been privatized (p. 97), and the fight against erosion been neglected (p. 97). In sum, the public agricultural expenditures have been reduced by 85% (p. 97) in comparison to the middle of the 1970ies. The collapse of the Somalian agriculture also is shown by the fact, that at the beginning of the 1980ies, the sale of food aid had already become the main source of revenue for the Somalian government (p. 97).
At Ruanda, the 1990 structural adjustment program of the IMF served for starvation. In the country, which had already been focused on coffee cultivation, the national fund for the securing against falling coffee prices has been abolished together with all other public agric InfoGnomon
Πηγή
Το πλήρες κείμενο:
Η Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing στον Εισαγγελέα του ΔΠΔ (ICC)
Sarah Luzia Hassel-Reusing Thorner Str. 7
42283 Wuppertal (Germany) +49 / 202 / 2502621
human rights acitivist
to the International Crime Court
to be delivered to the Chief Prosecutor Mrs. Fatou Bensouda
Maanstraat 174
2516 AB, The Hague (Netherlands)
subject: -Greek charge regarding art. 7 Roman Statute
reference: -further crucial evidence especially regarding the objective part
Dear Madam, Mrs. Chief Prosecutor,
21.11.2012 (edited)
I address myself as a German citizen to you in the awareness, that the German people confesses itself to inalienable und invulnerable (universal) human rights as the basis of every human community, of peace, and of justice in the world (according to art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law, which is protected by the eternity guarantee of art. 79 par. 3 Basic Law). In his famous speech at the 06.09.1946 the then US foreign minister Mr. Byrnes has demanded, that Germany had to bind itself to human rights and to peace as a precondition, which would allow the USA, to accept that Germany might get to wealth again. In the Parlamentarian Council, the body, which has worked out and concluded the German Basic Law, Dr. Seebohm (German Party) demanded in his plenary speech at the 08.05.1949 a legally binding obligation of Germany to human rights and to peace, in order to enable other states to trust Germany again („Der Parlamentarische Rat“, Band 9, Harald-Boldt publishing house, p.562). This means the legal obligation to the universal human rights, for the wording of art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law has been developed starting from a draft of the first paragraph of the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Right (UDHR), and the other international human rights systems, which are valid today in Germany, have been come into existence after the the Basic Law (1949) (European Human Rights Convention of the Council of Europe concluded in 1950, and the EU Basic Rights Charter concluded in 2000 and made legally binding in 2009).
Dr. Süsterhenn (Christian-Democratical Union) demanded in his plenary speech in the Parlamentarian Council at the 08.09.1948 („Der Parlamentarische Rat“, Band 9, Harald-Boldt publishing house, p.56), that the universal human rights, if they are valid for UN trustee areas, then even more must be valid for the occupied Germany. Also the German Constitutional Court has confirmed art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law as a connection to the universal human rights (no. 96 of the Bodenreform III judgement, BVerfGE 112,1). In addition to that, the Constitutional Court has in no. 225 of the Lisbon judgement at the 30.06.2009 recognized the peace principle (obligation to peace by art. 1 par. 2 Basic Law, not to be misunderchanged with the prohibition of aggressive war by art. 26 Basic Law).
This means for me as a German citizen (official confirmation, that I am a German citizen, is attached), as a part of the sovereign (the people), to stand protecting the universal human rights.
The Greek journalists Georgios Tragkas, Panagiotis Tzenos, and Antonios Prekas, and the Greek politician Dimitrios Konstantaras (Nea Democratica), have filed a charge regarding the suspicion of crimes against humanity (art. 7 Roman Statute). The charge regarding art. 7 Roman Statute is directed against Christine Lagarde (CEO of the IMF), Herman van Rompuy (President of the European Council), Jose Manuel Barroso (President of the EU Commission), the German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, and the German Federal Minister of Finance, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble.
You find the English text of the charge at the following link:
www.scribd.com/doc/protected/100418463
According to art. 15 par. 1 Roman Statute, the Chief Prosecutor can, propriu motu, initiate investigations on the basis of information, which is filed at the International Crime Court for the prosecution of crimes, which are within the jurisdiction of the court.
This letter supports the above-mentioned Greek charge with crucial pieces of information regarding the objective part, especially regarding the systematic attack and the large scope according to art. 7 par. 1 Roman Statute. For this purpose, I especially look at those actions, which lead to severe damages at health (according to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute).
In addition to that, part IV.1 of this letter shows the real suspected motive, namely to give more for the stability of the financial sector (especially of big banks according to the „too big to fail“ – hypothesis), than this is allowed with respect to the financial means, which must remain to fulfill those obligations, which are secured by human rights, and than the peoples themselves, if they were orderly informed and asked, would ever allow.
The investigation at the ICC of the systematical accepting of the humanitarian catastrophe at Greece is, at the same time, necessary, in order to prevent its systematical spread onto all states of the eurozone, and to prevent the pushing back of the universal human rights and the Roman Statute by means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
I request for the start of investigations on Greece, even though the completion of the investigations might take a long time with respect to older already pending proceedings. Because here, the start of investigations can still prevent the, because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, threatening creation of cases of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute in all states of the eurozone. What the IMF has done to the health system in countries like Albania, Bangla Desh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Peru, Ruanda, Romania, Somalia, Ukraine, and Vietnam, is threatening to all states of the eurozone because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU. The Greek people already today is being used as a test case within the eurozone for this. Even if the pain, which the IMF has caused to the peoples outside Europe, has been enabled possibly also because of a neglect of the control of representatives of European states over the IMF, may this not go on account of the peoples of Europe, which have been left systematically in ignorance regarding the IMF for decades. The losses of human lifes in the eurozone to be expected are rather comparable to Ruanda (hundredthousands) than to the recent cases at Nigeria (Boko Haram suspected for over 1.000 deaths) or Guinea (army suspected for over 150 deaths). So I request to at least give the official start of the investigations on Greece the timely priority, which is adequate to systematic attack and to the large scope.
(for numbers on Nigeria and Guinea see taz-article „Spart sich die Welt ihr Weltgericht“ of the 15.11.2012, Link http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/digitaz/artikel/ressort=au&dig=2012%2F11%2F15%2Fa0115&cHash=75451582 500fbd21ed22ec150aac90f7 )
I. the connection between the Roman Statute and the universal human rights
I have, as well as the Greeks, who have filed the charge, the legal point of view, that the Roman Statute is to be interpreted according to the universal human rights. Historically and regarding legal philosophy, the universal human rights are the basis for putting crimes like genocide or crimes against humanity under hard penalties. Among the universal human rights, besides the human dignity (art. 1 UDHR), which is the legal basis of the indivisibility of the universal human rights, the universal human right to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) is of eminent importance. According to no. 1 general comment no. 14 to the UN Social Pact, the sense of the human right to health is the ability to lead a life in dignity. Also for this reason, the human right to health is the only universal human right, which explicitely garantuees the, for the respective human being, highest attainable standard of health. According to no. 32, the principal prohibition of retrogression (which results from the social progression clause of art. 2 par. 1 UN Social Pact) has the effect regarding the human right to health, that the state has regarding retrogessions at the human right to health, not only the burden of proof, that all available financial means have already been exhausted before, but also the the burden of proof, that these retrogressions are justified with a view to the total of the rights of the Social Pact. This means, if cuts need to be made regarding the realization of the universal social human rights, then these cuts need to be done, relatively less regarding health than regarding any other social human rights.
Also regarding the universal human right to food (art. 11 Social Pact), the central importance of the human dignity (art. 1 UDHR) and of the human right to health (art. 12 Social Pact) is shown. For, according to no. 8 general comment no. 12 to the UN Social Pact, the core of the human right to food includes the availability of food in sufficient amount and quality needed for the nutritional needs of every single human being, which is free of detrimental substances and acceptable in the respective culture; and the access to food should take place sustainably and should not violate the enjoyment of other human rights.
This shows the special importance of the universal human rights to health and to food also for the interpreta- tion of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
II. On the definition of a crime against humanity
A crime against humanity (art. 7 Roman Statute) includes attacks, which are large or systematical, and which are done against the civil population with knowledge of the attack. We regard in this case especially as relevant lit. k (encompasses also affectedness of social groups), and lit. h. The largeness and sytematical attack becomes most visible at the example of the Greek health system., and at the example of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
It is sufficient, if either the large scope or the systematical attack is there.
III. The systematical attack on the health at Greece
III.1 how the conditions against Greece systematically destroy the Greek health system
The memorandum of understanding of the trroika (EU Commission, International Monetary Fund IMF, and European Central Bank ECB) in the scope of financial support of the EFSF of February 2012 obliged Greece, to direct all revenues of the state onto a blocked account, in order to preeminently pay the external creditors (see German and English translation for the German Bundestag of the memorandum of unterstanding via Greece from February 2012, file number „Drucksache 17/8731“). http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/087/1708731.pdf
The blocked account refers, as the Hellas Frappe article „How Venizelos Robbed State Institutions To Complete Bond Swap“ of the 26.03.2012 shows, not only to future revenues, because, at the 09.03.2012 credits of ca. 1.4 billion € of various public institutions, among them universities and hospitals, have been complety taken away without warning from one day to another, and have been transferred to the blocked acocunt at the Bank of Greece, which has had already been implemented according to the memorandum of understanding. Even public hospitals have suddenly been without any credit on their banking account with respective effects on their work. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/03/how-venizelos-regime-robbed-state.html
In addition to that, the Troika obliges Greece, to reduce the total amount of the employers’ contribution to the social insurance by 5%, alone by cuts in services and moderating fees, and without any compensation through tax-financed subsidies. Moreover, the Troika wants Greece to reach a budget surplus of 4.5 % of the GDP. The Troika wants to reach this surplus, especially by deep structural reforms at the side of the expenditures, among them drastical cuts in the social insurances and closing down parts of the public administration, which are regarded to be not cost-efficient enough. The Troika demands from the social insurance concrete measures for the protection of its central parts (which in most states could mean pension and health insurance) and of the weakest of the Greek society, but the Troika does not demand, that these measures must be sufficient for the preservation of the central parts and for the survival of the poorest groups of the population. The Troika put the main burden of the austerity measures at the social system. Besides that, the Troika also demands austerity measures in the defense area. The permanent marginalization of the social system is so important to the Troika, that for the case of a budgetary relief, it explicitely does not want to allow the relief of the social system, but to enforce a further reduction of the social insurance contributions.
Apart from that, the revenue of the Greek social insurance has also decreased because of the recession, the unemployment (to which the loosening of the protection against wrongful dismissal, which the Troika has had enforced in 2010, has contributed), and because of reductions of the wages.
With the conditions of the Troika, the humanitarian catastrophe, has obviously willingly be risked. The assessment, who has the responsibility for that under penalty law, is the task of the International Criminal Court. I do regard it as possible, that persons outside the political positions have a big part of the responsibility.
III.2 the humanitarian catastrophe in the Greek health system
The money in the Greek public health insurance has become so scarce, that the ambulant patients as well as the patients in hospital have to advance the money for their medicaments.
taz article „keine Heilung auf Rezept“ of the 05.06.2012
www.taz.de/!94746/
taz article „Krise in Griechenland: Rentner stürmen Ministerium“ of the 05.09.2012
www.taz.de/!108028/
Also the article „Greek Pensioners ‘Storm’ Health Ministry“ from September 2012 confirms, that the health insured people have to advance the payment for their medicaments. In addition to that, they even already have to pay in advance for ambulant visits to the doctor, which reminds of the situation at Romania. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/09/greek-pensioners-storm-health-ministry.html
The article „Minister of Health Puts End to Agony of Cancer Patients Who Could Not Find Medi-cines“ of the 05.06.2012 exposes, why the supply with cancer medicaments at Greece has been relieved in the middle of 2012. It has been not more than a momentary benefit in face of the elections. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/06/minister-of-health-puts-end-to-agony-of-html
The article „Crisis in Health Care Hurts Access to Vital Medicines“ of June 2012 reports on a press confe- rence of Greek patients’ associations on „the barbarity of the economic crisis and the devaluation of human life“ in view of the effects of the liquidity shortage in the Greek public health insurance. Multiple sklerosis patients need about 1.000,- € for medicine per month; without these medicaments, their disease proceeds. The association of dialysis patients of Northern Greece reports on casualties because fo the lack of dialysis filters, which are are supplied by the pharmacists only after payment. The association of young diabetes patients reported on problems with blood donations because of a lack of medical materials. Cancer patients, whose medicaments cost between 200,- € and 4.000,- € per patient and month, often remain medically unsupplied because of the costs. http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2012/06/crisis-in-health-care-decreases-access.html
89,7 % of the Greeks have, according to a poll, difficulties, to afford the medicine they need. At Attika, the cardiology and the vascular clinic have been closed. At Rhodos, Chios, and Lerissa, patients have to pay by themselves for disposable materials.
At the 8th international heart congress, an increase of depressions and of strokes, and a quadruplication of heart attacks with at the same time difficulties in paying the heart medicaments has been reported. According to the Greek health ministry, the number of suicides has increased by 45 % from the first semester 2010 to the first semester 2011.
In an open letter to all Greeak political parties and to the ministries of health and of finance, 23 associations of cancer patients have described the suffering of this group of patients, who not only have to pay for their medicine, but even for their disposable materials, und of whom many have been waiting (according to the charge) already for 6 months, if and when their insurance will reimburse their costs to them. The lack of medicaments in hospitals at Greece has already reached the extent of a humanitarian catastrophe, as the medical association of Greece has warned in a letter to the United Nations.
(source for the in the following paragraph quoted numbers is the Greek charge already filed to the ICC)
III.3 human rights expert criticizes Greek austerity measures
In view of the special importance of the universal human rights for the interpretation of the Roman Statute, also the opinion of the independent expert of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations on the effect of the financial crisis on the realization of the universal human rights, is of eminent importance, because it shows, that the conditions of the Troika do not show any serious orientation on the universal human rights.
The independent expert of the UN Human Rights Council on foreign debt and human rights, Cephas Lumina, has, already in 2011, stated the violation of universal human rights by the then second austerity package for Greece (article „Greek austerity measures violate human rights, UN expert says“ of the 01.07.2011). www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38901&Cr=austerity&Cr1
He has explicitely emphasized the preeminence of the universal human rights, and has urged the Greek government to remain proportionate regarding the austerity measures. He recommended, especially to respect the universal human rights to food, water, and housing (all art. 11 UN Social Pact) and to fair and equitable conditions (art. 7 UN Social Pact). He regarded as especially affected by the then privatizations and expenditure cuts poor, elderly, jobless, and handicapped people.
Mr. Lumina explicitely called ECB, IMF, and EU Commission, to remain conscious of the effects of their conditions on human rights for Greece and other states, and he predicted towards them, that there will be no permanent solution to the debt problem without taking into account the human rights.
He did not speak of an only insufficient consideration of the human rights, but his formulation „if the human rights of the people are not taken into account“ exposes, that the conditions of the Troika even do not show, in how far the Troika has considered the human rights at all in their process of drafting their conditions.
And these critical words even directly in view of the UN special organization IMF have been published at a time, when Mr. Lumina could not have known, how deeply the Greek health system would be attacked by the conditions of February 2012.
III.5 the attack on the nutrition at Greece
The study „Issues in measuring absolute poverty: The case of Greece“ by Thanasis Maniatis, Yannis Bassakios, George Labrindinis, and Costas Passas from May 2011 deals with the definition of an absolute poverty line for Greece. For the the assessment regarding human rights as well as for the assessment regarding universal penalty law, the absolute poverty line is crucial. There is also a relative poverty line, which says only, how many per cent of the population have an income of less than 50% respectively 60% of the average income. Table 1 on page. 6 of the study shows the little meaningfulness of the relative poverty line, where countries like Hungary or Slovakia have a significant better ranking than the significantly richer Canada, where even for the poorest one of the best health systems of the world is available, which is shown by the good ranking of Canada within the human development index of the UNDP.
link to Greek study: http://www.iippe.org/wiki/images/8/80/CONF_2011_Thanasis_Maniatis.pdf
link to human development index: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Table1.pdf
The study defines the poverty line for the year 2009 according to the needed financial means for the areas accomodation, food, clothing, and transport, differenciated each for households with one to five persons, and differentiated to tenants and to persons, who only have to pay the additional costs for their accomodation. This way, the study come to the following costs of living for the year 2009 (page 27):
Persons
1
2
3
4
5
Poverty line with rent (in €)
809,38
1186,37
1495,37
1820,33
2189,24
Poverty line without rent (in €)
518,38
803,37
1022,73
1252,33
1517,24
Who has less than these amounts to his disposal at Greece, has too little for either accomodation, food, clothing, or transport. The deeper the income is below these numbers, the higher is the probability, that the respective persons are starving.
The study has been completed in 2011 for 2009. The creation of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Greek health sector has been caused and is being caused, as shown in parts III.1 and III.2 of this letter, especially by the conditions of the Troika since February 2012. For the definition of the minimal living income at Greece today, it would also be necessary to add to the numbers above the average moderating fees or costs completely carried by the patients, either relating to all Greek patients, or related to the health status of the poorer groups of the population, or to differentiate the numbers to be added more to specific expensive, but not rare, diseaes (such as e. g. cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, or kidney diseases).
As far as expensive diseases appear, starvation probably also exists for people with an income above the absolute poverty line.
The study shows in table 3 on page 28, that the standard wage NGCLA in 2009 for a single person is at
590,- € and for two working parents at together 1.300,- €. That has been the situation before the interventions of the Troika into the law of the collective labour agreements. And it has already been at that time below the absolute poverty line. In how far there have or are higher collective labour agreements for specific segments of the economy, is not known to me.
According to the Ekathimerini article „Over 2 mln Greeks living below poverty line in 2010“ of the 02.11.2012, referring to the Greek statistics authority ELSTAT 2,34 million Greek people have lived in 2010 below the poverty line.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_02/11/2012_468462
In this regard, Ekathimerini refers to the absolute poverty line 2010 according to ELSTAT of 6.591,- € per person (so 549,25 € per month). The number of private households below the poverty line in 2010 has been 901.190.
These ELSTAT numbers are confirmed by the article „Over 2.3 mln Greeks living below poverty line“ of the Azeri medium APA of the 03.11.2012.
http://en.apa.az/news/181884
And the poverty line according to ELSTAT is already set very low. Because a more exact look into table 2 of the above mentioned Greek study of May 2011 shows, that a one person – household has needed already in ts 2009 for accomodation (rent and additional costs) and food together (431, 69 € + 101,13 € =) 542,82 €, so that with the poverty line according to ELSTAT nearly nothing would remain for clothing and transport.
According to the Phantis article „More than 400,000 children hungry at Greece“ of the 06.04.2012, 20,1 % of the households and 439.000 children at Greece are living below the poverty line. www.phantis.com/news/more-400000-children-hungry-greece
Phantis concludes from this the undernourishment of these children. These numbers are from the report „The State of the Children in Greece Report“ of UNICEF Greece, published in March 2012. link:http://www.unicef.gr/pdfs/State_of_the_Children_in_Greece_Report_2012_Summary.pdf
The UNICEF Greece report, in turn refers regarding the 439.000 children under the poverty line to numbers of the EU statistics authority EUROSTAT for 2010.
Unfortunately, it is not known to me, at which monthly amount UNICEF Greece defines the poverty line.
Of these 20,1 %, according to Phantis, the nutrition of 21,6 % (so related the total population 4,34 %) lacks of animal protein.
According to Phantis, the poverty line at Greece is at 470,- € per month. Der Phantis-Artikel sees the official poverty line related to a household of 4 persons. I presume, that a poverty line of 470,- € per person of such a household respectively for the total household (4 * 470,- € =) 1.880,- € per month is meant.
Phantis says, that, according to official estimations, 21% of the Greeks are living below the poverty line. The medium itself estimates 25% (2,8 million of a total of 11,2 million Greeks). The Greek network on the fight against poverty (EAPN) is quoted, that soon 30% will be reached; this number has recently be confirmed by a study of the foundation for economical and industrial research (IOBE).
In addition to that, according to Phantis, 400.000 Greek families are without any income from work.
Even though I do not know the exact number of starving people at Greece, the numbers explained above, however, show clearly, that in a large scale and systematically, it is being accepted, that millions of people at Greece are threatened of starvation.
III.5 drastical cuts at Portugal and Spain and hunger at Spain
At Spain, a humanitarian catastrophe in the area of nutrition already exists because of the austerity measures. Spain and Portugal are moving in big steps towards a humanitarian catastrophe in the health sector.This shows, that the disregard of the social universal human rights regarding the austerity measures for the obtai- ning of the means for the banks, can lead to humanitarian catastrophes within few years or even only months, regarding to which questions regarding art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute arise.
In the parts III.1+III.2 of this letter, the connection between concrete conditions of a memorandum of understanding and its effects for the health have, at least for Greece, been shown.
For Spain and Portugal, for this purpose, also the humanitarian effects would have to be compared to the conditions, in order to relate, what has been effected by the conditions of the Troika within EFSM respectively EFSF, what by the conditions within the deficit procedure, what is possibly caused by the policy in these countries. But that is not the topic of this letter. Here shall, at the moment insofar only be shown, that the interference of the ICC regarding Greece is necessary also in the sense of the preventing art. 7 Roman Statute for Portugal and Spain. Already the official start of investigations on Greece by the ICC will set a decisive sign, in order to save the lives of countless patients and of starving long-term jobless people also at Portugal and Spain.
Latest after the enactment of art. 136 Abs. 3 AEUV, austerity measures are threatening in all states of the eurozone, which systematically intervene so deeply especially into the human right to the, for the respective human being, attainable highest degree of health (art. 12 UN Social Pact), but also into the universal human right to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact), that in all these states including Germany the crimes against humanity according to art. 7 par 1 lit. k Roman Statute are threatening (see part IV. of this letter).
This is shown by the attack on the health system of Portugal, where, according to the taz article „ein Monatslohn für den Staat“ of the 17.10.2012 with 19,5% the biggest procentual cuts are planned in the health sector. Within a few months, if such drastical cuts were implemented, also at Portugal questions regarding the Roman Statute could arise.
www.taz.de/1/archiv/print-archiv/printarchiv/digi-artikel/? ressort=wu&dig=2012%2F10%2F17%2Fa0078&cHash=7f2d249bc2f961c58e314a22d0d1791
Moreover, friends of me from the province Alentejo have told us, that the hospital responsible for the region can only do an emergence supply any more, and that you already today have to drive from there with a broken bone or after a heart attack more than 250 kilometers, if you need more than an emergency treatment. The situation at Portugal is already today much worse, than it had been visible by the original memorandum of understanding at 2011.
According to the taz article „Spanien spart sich seinen Sozialstaat“ of the 25.10.2012, now also at Spain, at least 22,6 % from the tax revenues for the health system shall be streaked out. www.taz.de/1/archiv/digitaz/artikel? ressort=au&dig=2012%2F10%2F25%2Fa0045&cHash=446287ecd7fa9eba54bf3bea93e63877
And the inhumanity is exposed in very clearness at Spain, where the Red Cross, for the first time in the history of the country, has asked for food donations in view of 300.000,- starving people (taz article „Spanien abgewertet“ of the 12.10.2012).
www.taz.de/1/archiv/print-archiv/printarchiv/digi-artikel/? ressort=wu&dig=2012%2F10%2F12%2Fa0157&cHash=0b7863dd0a47968dd5af10cee8a2f786
III.6 further destruction of the health sector at Romania
Romania is one of the states, which have got, under EU regulaton (EG) 332/2002 an emergency loan with strict conditions. This regulation is similar to the EFSM of the european financial mechanism, but for EU member states outside the eurozone.
At Romania, not only the reduction of the pensions by 15% has been demanded and been rushed through by government and parliament, but also moderating fees for the ambulant medical supply, even though at Romania already before the IMF (respectively the Troika) for stays at the hospital everything from medicaments to material has had to be paid by the patients themselves, and the health insurance has paid nearly only the work of the doctor, and even though the hygiene at the hospital is so bad, that many patients are infected there with tuberculosis. Now even the amubulant health care shall be taken away from the poor. 150 to 200 of the 435 Romanian hospitals are going to be closed and the rest to be transferred to the Romanian municipalities, most of them also are close to bankruptcy. Between 9.300 and 10.000 beds are going to be reduced in those hospitals, which are not directly going to be closed.
The mentioned numbers are from the year 2010, as the follwing links prove:
www.wsws.org/de/2010/jun2010/ruma-j09-shtml www.wsws.org/de/2010/apr2010/ruma-a5.shtml www.wsws.ord/de/2010/jun2010/ruma-j18.shtml
Also the taz confirms, that there have been since 2010, and still are, drastical cuts in the Romanian health system because of the conditions of the Troika. According to the article „Gott sei Dank nicht mehr in die Klinik“ of the 17.01.2012, the „health supply in the poorest EU country“ is collapsing „piece for piece“. The health expenditures are with 3,5% to 4% of the GDP only at the half of the EU average. 40.000 doctors are missing in the country, tenthousands of doctors and male nurses have emigrated. In some rural regions there is „scarcely health supply, in some small towns only very limited.“
According to the article, an orderly medical treatment is only available with bribery. The sufferers are poor and old people.
Because of the austerity measures, among them, besides drastical cuts in the health system, also cuts of the wages in the public sector by 25% and of the pensions and of many social benefits by between 15% and 25%, meanwhile already 3 million Romanians have emigrated, most of them to Italy, Spain, and Germany. www.taz.de/!85782/
Romania’s health sector has already been severely damaged by the IMF in the 1990ies (part V.2 of this letter).
IV. proof of the systematical nature of the attack by means of the „little treaty change“ (art. 136 par. 3 TFEU)
IV.1 safeguarding the financial sector as the real cause of the excessive strictness
The pain caused by the excessive conditions at the cost of the Greeks, has not primarily to do with the Greeks. The liquidity problems of the country have only been used as an opportunity, in order to be able to establish more and more mechanisms for the securing of the financial sector. This is the real suspected motive of the crime.
The Greeks have been chosen as only the first victims. The Germans like all inhabitants of the eurozone are going to be treated later, namely of the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
A new art. 136 par. 3 TFEU is going to be inserted into the EU primary law, whose wording is as follows:
„The Member States whose currency is the euro, may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject under strict conditionality.“
Links: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/118578.pdf
This does, however, not really aim at the stability of the common currency, neither at the inner stability, nor at the stability of the exchange rate, and also not at putting the public finances onto their feet again, but only at the „financial stability“.
This is proven by:
-par. 2+4 of the considerations of the 16./17.12.2010 to the initiation of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/118578.pdf
-no. 11 of the conclusions of the European Council of the 23./24.06.2011, according to which the Prime Ministers want to do everything for the „financial stability“ www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/123075.pdf
The conclusions of the summit of the 24./25.03.2011 prove the definition of „financial stability“ as the stability of the financial sector, i. e. especially of banks. www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/120296.pdf
By means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, one wants to create always new mechanisms for the safeguarding of banks, of whom hitherto especially two groups of mechanisms are known, namely those of the European financial mechanism („Greece support“, EFSM, EFSF, and ESM) and those for the enabling of the EU Commission as the „EU economic government“ (tightening of the Stability and Growth Pact, Imbalance Procedure, and Budgetary Survaillance).
In the European financial mechanism, the conditions are always drafted by the „Troika“, consisting EU Commission, IMF, and ECB, under the lead of the EU Commission, and are decided by the financial ministers respectively by their permanent secretaries (in the EFSF) or (as a possibility in the ESM) by directors, who are chosen by the financial ministers. Within the Stability and Growth Pact and the Imbalance Mechanism as well as in a part of the Budgetary Surveillance, the conditions are drafted by the EU Commission and decided by the EU Council of Ministers. Within a part of the Budgetary Surveillance, the EU Commission itself decides on the conditions. And the ESM prohibits via collective action clauses every sovereignly managed state bankruptcy, in order to force the countries of the eurozone, when they are bankrupt, into a state insolvency procedure, in which they get additional political conditions by their private creditors (part IV.4 of this letter).
All these mechanisms of the „European financial mechanism“ aim at giving loans to states of the eurozone with liquidity problems, in order to enable them to pay their hitherto creditors, or (only with EFSF and ESM) to recapitalizie banks, and the countries get „strict“ conditions at the cost of their inhabitants. The tightening of the Growth and Stability Pact aims at strict conditions for states with too high deficit or too high debt, the Imbalance Procedure at strict interventions of the EU Commission into into any matters of wage, finance, or economic policy of the member states, and the Economic Surveillance at any interventions of the EU Commission into the draft budgets of the governments of the member states.
All these mechanisms are primarily directed to bringing together enough financial means for the securing of the „financial stability“ of the financial sector at the cost of the other inhabitants of the member states.
To the populations of the EU member states, however, it has been pretended, that the aim was the protection of the currency and of the public finances. It seems very improbable, that the Prime Ministers of all 17 states of the eurozone or even alle 27 Prime Ministers of all countries of the European Union would ever consciously put the „financial stability“ of the financial sector above the rights of their inhabitants.
I rather believe, that for the question of guilt before the ICC for the suffering caused against the Greeks, it could be of significant importance, who has invented this deception.
IV.2 the obligation to the „strictness“ as the system of inhumanity
All financial assistances in the scope of mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 s. 1 TFEU for the protection of the „financial stability“ of the financial sector would be connected, according to art. 136 par. 3 s. 2 TFEU, to „strict“ conditions.
The „strictness“ of the conditions is for all these mechanisms planned as in the „practice“ of the IMF (Ecofin Council (economic and financial ministers in the EU Council of Ministers) of the 10.05.2010) respectively „very strict“ according to no. 49 of the report of the „task force“ of the 21.10.2010. The „task force“ included the federal finance ministers of alle EU member states as well as EU Commissioner Olli Rehn, the then ECB chef Jean-Claude Trichet, the chairman of the Eurogroup Jean Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, who at the same time leaded the task force.
conclusions of the economic and finance ministers (Ecofin) in the Council of Ministers of the 10.05.2010 (file number SN 2564/1/10) http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/__Anlagen/2010/20100510beschluesseeurolaenderfinanzministe r,property=publicationFile.pdf
recommendations of the „task force“ of the 21.10.2010
www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/117326.pdf
The ESM, in addition to that, is obliged by art. 3 ESM Treaty, to make „strict“ conditions.
www.eurozone.europa.eu/media/582866/02-tesm2/de12.pdf
The economic government is obliged by consideration no. 3 in connection with art. 6 of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD), to impose „strict „ conditoins (see also part IV.3 of this letter) http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_strength_eco_en.pdf
In addition to that, all conditions within the EFSF are, according to the preamble of the EFSF Framework Treaty, planned as strict as they are towards Greece:
see EFSF Framework Treaty of the 07.06.2010
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/nn_1270/DE/Wirtschaft__und__Verwaltung/Europa/20100609- Schutzschirm-Euro-Anlage__1,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf
in 2011 concluded modified EFSF Framework Treaty (draft of the 26.08.2011)
http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/upload/pdf/110902_EFSF_Rahmenvertrag_Anpassung.pdf
The „practice“ of the IMF is something completely different than the content of the statute of the IMF. In the statute of the IMF, there is no obligation to inhumanity at all. By means of an excessive immunity against penalty law and against liability as well as by means of excessive payment, however, the standards of moral and of viewing the world are, within the IMF, in a way shifted, resulting in IMF conditions without any respect to basic rights and to human rights of the inhabitants of the debtor countries.
The Roman Statute is the basis solely for the prosecution of crimes, which have been committed at the 01.07.2002 or later, like the suspected crime against humanity against the Greek people. For crimes before that date, a prosecution is not possible by the ICC, but possibly by international ad hoc – courts like those for Ruanda and Jugoslavia or by national courts of the respective victim state.
In view of the systematical obligation of the conditions to a strictness as in the „practice“ of the IMF, which would be valid with the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, it is however crucial for the interpretation, what a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF means, to look also at older conditions – for the proof, that an obligation to the strictness as in the „practice“ of the IMF implies, to intervene, for the securing of the financial sector, so deep into the human rights to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) and to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact), that this reaches systematically up to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
The initiation of an investigation by the ICC is necessary also in order to set a crucial sign just in time, in order to prevent the systematic inhumanity from being entrenched with the rank of EU primary law by means of art. 136 par. 3 s. 2 TFEU, because this would put this strictness, from the perspective of the EU, over any law of the United Nations !
IV.3 the Budgetary Surveillance and the instrumentalization of EU funds
EU regulation 2011/385 (COD) is together with EU regulation 2011/0386 (COD) planned as the EU secondary law legal basis for the Budgetary Surveillance of the states of the eurozone by the EU Commission. You find it at the link: http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_strength_eco_en.pdf
Via consideration 3 and art. 6 of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD), the EU Commission could impose on every country of the eurozone, which receives financial support by one or several other states, by the IMF, the EFSF, or the ESM, additional „strict“ conditions, whereas these mainly found consist in stricter versions of already exististing conditions from the deficit procedure (of the Stability and Growth Pact) and of the Imbalance Procedure.
If these tightened conditions are not fulfilled, as additional sanctions towards the respective country would be used the cut of the EU funds (named in consideration no. 7) ELER agricultural funds (especially for extensive and for ecological agriculture), EU social funds, EU fishery funds, EU structural funds (for rural regions), and EU cohesion funds (for poor regions).
EU regulation 2011/0386 (COD) enables, via its articles 5, 6, and 9, the EU Commission, to intervene in any draft budgets of the countries of the eurozone. http://ec.europa.eu/europa2020/pdf/proposal_monito_assess_en.pdf
The national and regional parliaments of the states of the eurozone could still decide on their budgets, but the non-compliance of the „opinions“ (art. 6) of the Commission by the member states would take them auto- matically (art. 9) into the deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact, even if their deficit and their debts are not excessive, or if they even reduce their debts.
By means of art. 21 of EU regulation 2011/0276 (COD), cutting the same EU funds as by means of EU regulation 2011/385 (COD) is planned for the case of non-compliance with conditions. The difference is, that according to art. 21 par. 1 EU regulation 2011/0276 (COD) would prescribe the instrumentalization for putting through the conditions of (lit. b) the deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact, of (lit. c) the Imbalance Procedure, of (lit. d i.) the EFSM, of (lit. d ii.) the financial mechanism for the EU member states without the euro (as e. g. Romania) (regulation (EG) Nr. 332/2002), and of (lit. d iii.) of the ESM. http://ec.europa.eu/edf/BlobServlet?docId=233&langId=en
The combination of any interventions into the draft budgets and of the instrumentalization of the named EU funds would make especially the poorer regions, the family agriculture, and the ecological agriculture, and even food aid via the eu social fund, dependend on the mercy of the Commission. The possibility of healthy respectively of corporate-free nutrition in the states of the eurozone would become a political pound of the Commssion – and that combined with a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF (art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, part IV.2 of this letter).
In the case of non-compliance with the conditions, agricultural enterprises would be ruined, and food aid would be reduced or ended, as a result of the cuts into the mentioned EU funds. Both would increase the number of starving people in the eurozone and would contribute to further cases of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statuten. Also this shows the systematical attack and the large scope.
IV.4 political power partly in the hands of the private creditors via the state insolvency procedure of the ESM
The ESM is the hardest of the mechanisms tied to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU. The even in comparison to the IMF stronger immunity of the ESM will probably only be broken by art. 27 Roman Statute or by constitutional judgements to come. The ESM is planned as an independent international organization with, at first, a rank of simple international law, thus below the „ius cogens“, below the EU law, and below every national constituion. A later elevation of the ESM Treaty to the rank of EU primary law, however, is planned according to the prolog and the epilog of the statement to the euro summit of the 09.12.2011.
link: http://ralpherns.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/documento_cumbre_bruselas_9d_2011.pdf Additionally to the obligation to the strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF, art. 12 par. 3 ESM
Treaty obliges all countries of the eurozone, to attach collective action clauses to all of their bonds, which they emit starting from the 01.01.2013.
As the law „Gesetz zur Änderung des Bundesschuldenwesengesetzes“ (file number 17/9049) in Germany as one of the accompanying laws to the ESM proves, these collective action clauses are made to prohibit to the countries of the eurozone any souvereignly managed state bankruptcy, and to force them instead into the state insolvency procedure of the ESM, where on them are imposed political conditions not only by the Troika, but also by the private creditors, where the biggest private creditors of the states (the big banks) would have high shares of the votes because of the level of their financial claims. Link:http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/090/1709049.pdf
By means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU and the ESM, an anti – human rights, partial, and radical representation of bank interests is going to be legalized over the whole eurozone, without any respect to the human rights of the population, which exists with the IMF at least since the 1980ies, and which is called „Vienna Initiative“ (see also part V.4 of this letter).
IV.5 how art. 136 par. 3 TFEU threatens to oust the universal law
The IMF law has the rank of normal international law, it stands like the vast majority of international law just one stage above the simple national law (art. 27 Vienna Treaty Law Convention), and so clearly below the universal human rights, which belong to the „ius cogens“.
The IMF itself is not bound to the universal human rights, but because of the preeminence of the universal human rights in comparison to the IMF law, no debtor state has ever been entitled or obliged, to fulfill the conditions of the IMF any further, than they are compatible with the universal human rights.
The UN Charter is, according to its own art. 103, the highest-ranking international treaty. Because the UN Charter, at the same obliges to the respect for the sovereignty of the states (art. 2 par. 1 UN Charter), the UN Charter itself, as a result, is positioned directly below the national constitutions of the UN member states, but above any other international treaties.
The rank of the universal human rights, i. e. the UDHR and the human rights treaties of the United Nations, is, regarded from the perspective of the universal human rights law itself, below the UN Charter (art. 29 no. 3 UDHR), but above the rest of the international law (art. 28 UDH, art. 1 no. 3 UN Charter), except for the Geneva and Haag Conventions of humanitarian law, which are equal-ranking to the universal human rights (ICJ advisory opinion of the 08.07.1996 “Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 8 July 1996, The Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Reports 1996”).
The UN Charter and the universal human rights belong to the „ius cogens“, the highest category of nearly world-wide valid international law (no. 279-282 of the judgement of the EU Court of First Instance on file number T-306/01, and the ICJ advisory opinion of the 08.07.1996 mentioned above).
Also the prohibition of the criminal acts, which are included in the Roman Statute, must be „ius cogens“, because before the Roman Statute there has been a resolution of the UN General Assembly of 1946, but a ratified international treaty has existed not before the Roman Statute. The ad hoc courts at Nuremburg, on Japan, on Ruanda, and on Yugoslavia can, in view of the prohibition derived from human rights (art. 11 par. 2 UDHR) of retroactive penalty, only have had a valid legal basis within the „ius cogens“.
In my legal point of view, also the Roman Statute itself is „ius cogens“, because prescriptions like that for the one for breaking through even the immunity of other international organizations (art. 27 Roman Statute) is a clear argument for „ius cogens“.
The TEU and the TFEU and the protocols and annexes to these two treaties are the EU primary law. The EU primary law has, from its own perspective, a rank above the national constitutions of the member states (art. 1 TEU, art. 51 TEU, declaration no.17 in the annexes to TFEU and TEU). This stands in contradiction to the rank of the UN Charter and of the universal human rights, because also the EU law is international law.
The constitutional courts react, depending on their constitutional situation, differently on the rank claim of the EU law. According to continuous jurisdiction of the Polish constitutional court, the Polish constitution is the highest law at Poland and so stands also above the EU law (see e. g. Judgement of the 16.11.2011). The German constitutional court regards since the Lisbon judgement of the 30.06.2009 the constitutional identity (especially basic rights and structure principles, but also the state objectives peace principle (art. 1 par. 2
Basic Law, see foreword of this letter) and European integration (art. 23 Basic Law)) as standing above the EU law (basic principle 4 and no. 216+217 Lisbon judgement), but allows the EU primary law a rank above the rest of the German Basic Law (no. 240) – except for the common foreign and safety policy of the EU (no. 255 + 342), which has the rank of only normal international law. According to basic principle 3 of the Lisbon judgement, the implementation of the EU law has to leave enough space for the universal human rights, but the German constitutional court has not clarified, if it regards the EU secondary law (EU guidelines, EU regulations, etc.) or the universal human rights as higher-ranking.
Also the Latvian constitutional court has in its judgement of the 22.12.2009 (file number 2009-43-01) confirmed the preemince of the basic rights and structure principles of the Latvian constitution before the EU law.
In art. 29 par. 4 no. 10 of the Irish constitution, however, an explicit preeminence of the EU law before the Irish constitution is prescribed.
The EU law, even though the high rank it claims for itself, does NOT belong to the „ius cogens“, because this category comes only into consideration for law, which is at least nearly world-wide valid.
These examples show, that the rank claims of the EU law and of the universal human rights stand in compe- tition to each other, and that many EU member states regard the EU primary law (except for the common foreign and safety policy CFSP), but not necessarily the EU secondary law, as standing above the universal human rights.
If now art. 136 par. 3 TFEU entered into force, then, at least from the view of the EU law and of most EU member states, the systematical obligation to always new mechanisms for the „financial stability“ with a strictness, which ignores the universal human rights and reaches on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, would stand above the universal human rights and also above the Roman Statute.
This woud imply, that because of art. 136 par. 3 AEUV, the human rights and also the Roman Statute would systematically only be applied in the countries of the eurozone any more, as they are compatible with conditions of the Troika, whose strictness would reach, because of the obligation to the „practice“ of the IMF, on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute.
In addition to that, art. 351 TFEU (the former art. 226 TEC) obliges the EU member states, as far as these are bound to international treaties, which collide with EU primary law, to eliminate these incompabilies with the EU primary law.
How far this obligation can go from the perspective of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), shows its judgement of the 01.02.2005 in the case Commission v. Austria (file number C-203/03) (no. 61 of the judgement), that Austria had to terminate the ILO Convention no. 45 for the protection of women in mining with effect to the next possible date provided for in that treaty, because this convention collidies with an EU guideline (with EU secondary law). The collision has been, that the EU guideline has given more importance to the equal rights between men and women, and the ILO convention has given more importance to the protection of women against kinds of work in mining, which are hard or are risky to health.
So in the judgement on C-203/03, the ECJ has forced Austria to terminate its membership in an ILO convention with the rank of normal international law, because this convention has collided with EU secondary law, even though the then art. 226 TEC (today art. 351 TFEU) is a legal basis for an obligation to terminate international treaties only in cases of collisions with EU primary law. Link:http://curia.europa.eu/juris/showPdf.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30db92332c9a56434bba8c9fbf45957d246 3.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxuKbNn0? text=&docid=49900&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=553937
After the enactment of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, art. 351 TFEU would have the effect, that the countries of the eurozone would, from the point of view of the EU law, be obliged to loosen their obligations to the universal human rights and to the Roman Statute of the ICC in a way, that would make sure, that they could not impede always new mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, which have strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF and ignoring all human rights. This would most probably mean, that the countries would be obliged, to add a reservation to the universal human rights treaties ratified by the respecitve countries, to the UDHR, an to the Roman Statute, in the way, that the universal human rights and the universal penalty law would not be applicable any more to the respective state, insofar as the conditions of mechanisms connected to art. 136 par. 3 TFEU are concerned.
At Greece, already today the universal human rights to health (art. 12 UN Social Pact) and to food (art. 11 UN Social Pact) are violated by the conditions of the Troika to such an extent and so systematically, that there obviously is a case of art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, but by means of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU the universal human rights themselves would be pushed aside.
IV.6 how art. 136 par. 3 TFEU would lay the axe on the EU itself
According to art. 53 Vienna Treaty Law Convention and to art. 64 Vienna Treaty Law Convention, international treaties, which are incompatible with the „ius cogens“, are void.
Art. 136 par. 3 TFEU with its obligation to cruelty and at the same time with its claimed rank above all law of the United Nations, is, as especially shown in the parts IV.2 +IV.3 of this letter, obviously incompatible with the „ius cogens“ of the universal human rights and of the Roman Statute.
Art. 71 Vienna Treaty Law Convention includes the possibility, to change international treaties, which collide with „ius cogens“, in order to avoid the voidness of these treaties.
This shows, that art. 136 par. 3 TFEU, which would entrench the inhumanity, which is happening at Greece, into EU primary law, and which proves the systematical nature of this cruelty, threatens the legal existence of the TFEU and thus threatens the legal existence of the EU.
This isn’t any originary conflict between the EU and the UN at all, but a „hostile takeover“, as one would name it at the stock exchange, of the EU for the securing and the enrichment of banks, for which is even being risked, that the very legal basis of the existence of the EU becomes invalid.
V. exemples for the strictness of the „practice“ of the IMF, reaching on to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute
This part serves to further prove, what a strictness according to the „practice“ of the IMF is, and that for the case of non-action of the ICC in view of the suspected crimes against humanity at Greece according to art. 7 par. 1 lit. k Roman Statute, one can prognosticate comparable systematical excessively deep interventions in all countries of the eurozone because of art. 136 par. 3 TFEU.
V.1 prognosticable conditions against the food supply
The credit conditions of the IMF destroy intentiously the ability of the states, to independently provide their own population with food, and they serve for the effect, that less areas are available for food cultivation and more areas for the export.
A central motive for the intentious decline of the food supply of the whole population of a debtor state seems to be, that this way whole peoples, and not only governments and parliaments, can easier be forced to obey to other conditions and to the debt servicing. Because food is, in contrast to capital, no societal fiction, but necessary for survival. The conditions always aim at making impossible a food supply independent of the world market. Most often, the currency devaluation imposed by the IMF, leads to market-distortingly high prices for the import of fertiliziers, pesticides, tractors, etc.; in addition to that, price limits for these imports are prohibited. The purchasing power of the domestic customers of the farmers is destroyed by the enforced reduction of wages and of social benefits. Social institutons for the farmers, e. g. for the distribution of water and for additional subventions in times of market price declines, are abolished. Support shipments of highly subventioned agrarian surpluses are, where trade liberalization does not suffice, used intentiously to ruin whole economical segments of family farmers. Where all this is not enough, sometimes smaller agricultural enterprizes are simply prohibited (e. g. at Peru) or projects are financed (e. g. at Mozambique), which imply the expulsion of formers. With the destruction of the family farmers structures and with the aim of the bigger enterprizes to the export, the states do not only become dependend on the import of fertilizer, pesticides, etc., but also on the import of food, which they have to pay in hard currency – and that together with an own currency, that has been artificially devaluated at the command of the IMF.
According to the chapter “50 Jahre Bretton Woods” („50 years Bretton Woods“) in Uwe Hoering’s book
“Zum Beispiel IWF & Weltbank” („for example IMF and World Bank“) (Süd-Nord Lamuv publishing house), riots have taken place because of cuts into subventions imposed by the IMF:
-1985 at Bolivia (because of cuts into food and fuel subventions)
-1986 at Zambia (because of cuts into food subventions)
-1989 at Venezuela (because of cuts into fuel and transport subventions)
The IMF has demanded, even during the Asia crisis, also from Indonesia cuts into the food and fuel subventions („Die Chancen der Globalisierung“, Joseph Stiglitz, Pantheon publishing house, p. 304).
The cuts into food subventions as IMF imposed conditions are no singular cases, but rather usual:
„…for Western banks, which wanted to safeguard their credits, money was there, but not for the minimal food subventions, which should save human beings from dying of starvation.“
(„Die Chancen der Globalisierung“, Joseph Stiglitz, Pantheon publishing house, p. 39)
At Somalia, a country, 50% of whose population have worked as livestock breeders (p. 97, „The Globaliziation of Poverty and the New World Order“, Prof. Dr. Michel Chossudovsky), since the beginning of the 1980ies, because of IMF conditions, the currency has been devaluated (resulting in rising costs of fuel and fertilizer, p. 96) , the grain market been deregulated (p. 96), the veterinary services been privatized (p. 96), the emergency supplys of animal fodder been abolished (p. 96), the water been privatized (p. 97), and the fight against erosion been neglected (p. 97). In sum, the public agricultural expenditures have been reduced by 85% (p. 97) in comparison to the middle of the 1970ies. The collapse of the Somalian agriculture also is shown by the fact, that at the beginning of the 1980ies, the sale of food aid had already become the main source of revenue for the Somalian government (p. 97).
At Ruanda, the 1990 structural adjustment program of the IMF served for starvation. In the country, which had already been focused on coffee cultivation, the national fund for the securing against falling coffee prices has been abolished together with all other public agric InfoGnomon
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