By Abraham Gross
The Greek Minister of National Defense drew laughs from the session II Greek committee with his colorful opposition to austerity measures.
“Let’s call austerity measures for what they are: they are an attempt by the EU to milk the chaffed teat of the Greek taxpayer until it is dry,” he said, proposing a directive entitled “Heil No!” which would demand that Germany pay Greece 279 billion Euros for damages inflicted during World War II.
The directive was quickly laughed off, but remained a point of humor in a committee filled with tense discussions revolving around Greek fiscal-monetary policy and the handling of the refugee crisis.
Refugees received a windfall from the committee with directives passed, which gave refugees greater vocational training and education opportunities while limiting and containing the threats of the anti-immigrant Golden Dawn group. Though these directives generally passed by large margins, the Minister of National Defense remained a vocal opponent.
“I am absolutely disgusted by the proceedings of this committee” he said in response to increased government pressure on Golden Dawn, arguing that the Greek government should not target fellow Greeks over immigrants.
The committee was assailed by as many technical problems as diplomatic ones. Wi-Fi periodically crashed, inter-committee communications failed, but the directives the delegates managed to pass in the face of these difficulties earned applause from the committee chairs.
“Sorry, I just like clapping when we’ve actually achieved something,” said one.
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