Will Hollande beat the EU austerity stitch-up?

Good news for all those on the left of politics who want to fight the neoliberal austerity programme being forced onto the people of Europe by the EU! -  Francois Hollande has been elected President of France on an anti austerity ticket and the Greek parties New Democracy and PASOK who collaborated in the EU, IMF and  ECB bankers carve-up of Greece have been battered in the latest elections.

The problem remains that the European neoliberal elite of politicians, bankers and corporations who run the EU are committed to crushing all democratic attempts to derail their austerity programme, which is designed to protect banks and bondholders at the expense of ordinary Europeans. As I've blogged before, previous attempts by the people of Europe to stymie this elite have been defeated. The Irish, French and Dutch people tried and failed to block the European constitution (we were told it wasn't really a constitution) in referendums but the attempts were in vain.

The Euro-elite have a way of dealing with the inconvenience of democratic decisions - they make you vote until you give them the required answer. This has happened in Ireland - twice. Now that Hollande has been elected and the Greek pro-austerity parties have been humiliated, you can be sure that Brussels and Berlin will be working overtime to ensure that their plans can't be derailed.

The obvious answer in Greece, as it has been in other European countries before, is to make the Greeks vote until they come up with a pro-austerity choice. New Democracy has failed to form a coalition, lets hope that SYRIZA can do it, if they can't, its likely that the `Greeks will be required to vote once again. As for Hollande, we can only hope that he is serious in bringing about real change, and even if he is, then he may be bullied into submission for all we know.

Need the European elite worry about the inconvenience of democracy ?

So conformist and robotic has been the acquiescence of Euro-politicians to neoliberalism and austerity that its tempting to think that they must have Euro-microchips fitted before they are allowed to take power. Lets hope that Hollande can avoid this fate. Whatever happens its clear that the European people, when they get a chance, want no truck with austerity, and the sooner the left can get its act together and respond to this the better. In the UK the Green Party have made a good start, but its time for others to stand up and follow.