German austerity drive prompts short circuit

Because Athens will not cut pension supplements it must present the troika with alternative proposals within 15 days for how to cut its spending by the demanded 300 million euros. But economising is a German one-way street, writes the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore: "The European answer to the mismanagement in Athens remains one-sided: economise, economise, economise - along with brutal enforced reforms. This punitive ideology could sooner or later produce a violent backlash - both at a political and a social level. This reaction could spread like wildfire to other Eurozone countries subjected to similarly harsh austerity measures. The one-way street recipe which demands great sacrifices without offering prospects of development or the hope of rapid improvement could lead to a disastrous short circuit in the Eurozone, which has fallen victim to Germany's one-sided perspective." 

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