Source – World Socialist Website (WSWS):

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to implement a severe austerity program should he win another term in next month’s election. He announced his intention of saving €53 billion primarily through mass layoffs in the public sector and cuts in health care. His opponent, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande, said in a radio interview that if elected he would undertake an immediate review of all government spending and freeze a number of programs.

Sarkozy already announced plans for cutting labour costs by €13 billion, and compared this proposal to the Agenda 2010 program introduced in Germany. The nonelected “technocratic” prime minister of Italy, Mario Monti, stated that Germany had won the economic debate in Europe.

Agenda 2010 refers to a series of measures introduced by the Social Democratic (SPD)-Green government led by Gerhard Schröder between 1998 and 2005. According to the World Socialist Website:“This government introduced the most comprehensive attacks on the welfare state in post-World War II German history.”

The pension system was partially privatised and labour market “reforms” led to substantial reductions in corporate wage costs, while the coalition  lowered the top tax rate and abolished the wealth surtax.

The WSWS emphasises that the result was the creation of a huge low-wage sector:

* 23% of the German work force are employed in low-wage jobs, earning on average less than €7 an hour.

* 4.9 million workers are employed in so-called mini-jobs, which almost entirely free the employer from additional labour costs.

* Hundreds of thousands have been forced by German labour agencies to take jobs for which they receive just €1 per hour, plus room and board.

German companies have been able to circumvent minimum wage requirements and contract agreements through service contracts, under which employees are no longer protected by labour laws. In some companies, workers employed on the basis of such contracts already outnumber those working under a regular contract.

WSWS: “The aim of the fiscal pact agreed by EU finance ministers in early March is to extend this model across Europe.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made clear that the priority in Europe was not only slashing government spending, but also destroying workers’ rights. “Europe can hold its own in international competition with rising powers such as China and Brazil only if it is as competitive as Germany.”

In Greece, in addition to mass unemployment and wage cuts, the dismantling of welfare systems and increases in consumption taxes, the country is being transformed into a tax haven for businesses. The country’s monthly minimum wage has been cut by more than €160 to €590, business taxes have been reduced, and most wage subsidies abolished.

The social distress and poverty unleashed by these measures is being used to depress wages and working conditions across the board. The German government has proposed the setting up of “free trade zones” in northern Greece. In these special zones, the minimum wage of €590 is to be reduced to €300 and the corporate tax cut from 20% to 2%.

The WSWS comments that similar measures have been introduced in other EU states:

In Spain, companies can cut wages and alter working hours without union consent. Laws protecting employees against dismissal and enforcing their right to severance pay have been severely curtailed.

In Italy, employer social security contributions have been reduced and companies can now subvert existing contracts and reduce wages. There are also plans to cut labour costs and facilitate redundancies by conducting all contract negotiations at a company level.

* In Germany, ex-Chancellor Schröder, has called for an Agenda 2030. Countries such as Ireland and Greece are to surrender their national sovereignty and accept the appointment of a European finance minister to impose new, wide-ranging social cuts.

World Socialist Website (WSWS):

The “German model” and the attack on European workers, 9th April 2012 -

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/apr2012/pers-a09.shtml

Greece is to hold an early general election next May 6th. The (unelected) Prime minister Lucas Papademos stated that he would formally request the election from President Karolos Papoulias. "The main goals of our government were achieved," Mr Papademos told a Cabinet meeting.

Mr Papademos, a 64-year-old former vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB),  appointed prime minister in November and has pushed through harsh austerity measures in order to secure what the Irish Examiner stated was “a vital international bailout and a major debt relief deal with banks.”

Irish Examiner: “Opposition conservatives reached the coalition agreement with the majority Socialist Pasok party in November 2011 after parliamentary opposition (note: the Irish Examiner ignores the massive popular opposition to these measures), to austerity measures brought the previous government of Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou to the brink of collapse.”

The Examiner finishes by stating that “The conservative New Democracy party, led by former Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras, is leading in the opinion polls for the next election. However, the polls suggest it will not receive enough votes to form a government and would have to seek another coalition with the Socialists, as smaller parties fiercely oppose the terms of bailout agreements.”

Greece, in other words, faces the potential nightmare scenario of a fractured and divided Government, unable to push through the austerity programme.

In Ireland, the General Election of February 2011 occurred after the media abandoned support for the FF/Green coalition in late November 2010 once the IMF/EU programme was formally agreed. The Government, in other words, had done its job, and could now be dumped since it had exhausted all political credibility.

What had to be avoided was a long drawn-out campaign which would lead to a fractured parliament, with a weak and divided coalition Government, dependent on backbenchers and unable to implement the EU/IMF programme. A snap February election with the usual 3-week media-led campaign ensured that this threat was successfully avoided. The plan has, so far, been implemented in full, (aside from the Household Tax), and with full media support and approval, with some disagreement about tactics.

In Greece, the politicians face an electorate that is, to some degree, politically aware and who reject established authority.

In Ireland, the electorate are politically unaware and subordinate to authority. The effective difference is that Greeks see themselves as occupying a public space, or arena, in which each individual faces a reality that is shared by others. In Ireland, each individual faces a social reality that is defined by the media. That is the effect of a media saturated society with minimal public institutions and no awareness or experience of, a public identity.

Which is a classic neo-liberalism, Ireland, Europe’s Puerto Rico.

Irish Examiner:

Greece calls May general election, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 -

 http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/greece-calls-may-general-election-547055.html#ixzz1rmRb0otN

60 or more protesters were present. According to RTE News: “Gardaí were present and said the incident passed off without any of the protesters getting close to the minister.”

RTE News:

Protesters confront Phil Hogan over Household Charge, Wednesday, 11th April 2012 -

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0411/protesters-confront-hogan-over-household-charge.html

Guardian News September 2011 – Council leaders and MPs in Britain attacked plans to drill gas wells in Mendip Hills, near the city of Bath, which they fear will lead to highly toxic chemicals pumped into the ground in a threat to local water supplies. Two Australian-owned companies, Eden Energy and UK Methane, have obtained licences to explore for shale and are applying to Mendip district council for planning permission to test-drill.

Paul Crossley, head of the local authority, said: "There is great concern that the process of fracking will result in the water courses leading to the natural hot springs being contaminated with pollutants from this process, or for the waters to adopt a different direction of travel through new fractures in the underlying rock. Bath and North East Somerset council has obtained the very best expert advice on this matter and there is little to suggest that any thought has been given to the potential for damage to the deep water sources that supply the springs in Bath."

Source:

Shale boom in Bath could pollute water supplies, warn council leaders, Wednesday 28th September 2011 -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/28/shale-boom-bath-pollute-water?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Also: No Fracking UK –

http://nofrackinguk.com/?tag=eden-energy

Guardian: The gas leak (so far uncontrolled), is from a gas pocket 2.5 miles underground. Oil company Total believes it has found the source of the gas leak from its North Sea platform, as it sent two fire-fighting vessels to the scene.

The French corporation said it had found the leak in a gas pocket in a rock formation 4km (2.5 miles) below the seabed but 1km above the gas reservoir being tapped by the Elgin platform,  evacuated last Sunday when the leak was discovered.

In an attempt to quell fears about the risks of explosion from the gas cloud which has settled above the area, it said there were now fire-fighting ships on standby at the edge of the 2.3 mile exclusion zone. Marine experts are alarmed about the dangers of the gas cloud being ignited by a flare still burning on the platform, about 100 metres from the leak, if the wind changes direction.

Source of North Sea gas leak found, says Total – Guardian News – 29th March 2012 -http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/29/north-sea-oil-gas-leak-source-found?newsfeed=true

Japan Times – March 2012 - Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in to gauge the situation will require them to have greater resistance than currently available. Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The high radiation level is due to the shallow level of coolant water — 60 cm — in the containment vessel, which Tepco said in January was believed to be 4 meters deep. Tepco has  has few clues as to the status of reactors 1 and 3, which also suffered meltdowns, because there is no access to their insides.

Tepco said the radiation level in the reactor 2 containment vessel is too high for robots, endoscopes and other devices to function properly. Spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said it will be necessary to develop devices resistant to high radiation.

Source:

Reactor 2 radiation too high for access- Japan Times, March 29th, 2012 – http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120329a1.html

Tuesday - The Government has purchased Irish Life from Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) for €1.3 billion. The Irish Times says that the order fulfils a State “commitment” to acquire the IL to complete the €4 billion recapitalisation of the group’s banking unit, Permanent TSB, it neglected to say to whom this commitment was made, the paper also speaks of the Government’s “pledge” to separate the group’s life and banking businesses by the end of the first quarter.

Irish Times: “The move completes the recapitalisation of the Irish banking system.” Watch that space. The buy-out was completed under the Government’s “emergency” (Irish Times) banking legislation, the Credit Institutions Stabilisation Act 2010. The Government took over IL&P last year.

In a statement, Irish Life said it will be directly owned in its entirety by the Minister for Finance whose intention "is to dispose of Irish Life as soon as market conditions permit". IL&P chairman Alan Cook said the deal was necessary to complete plans to refinance the banking division while also safeguarding Irish Life.

“As chairman, I want to put on record our gratitude to the Irish Government and the Irish taxpayer for the support they have provided to the bank. Gratitude indeed.

Irish Life comprises Irish Life Assurance, Irish Life Investment Managers Limited, etc. It also includes Irish Life’s 30% minority interest in the general insurance business of Allianz Ireland, which is the Irish wing of a German Insurance corporation. The Irish Times declares that the value of the gross assets of Irish Life on June 30th, 2011 was €30.3 billion. Its net asset value was €1.3 billion on the same date.

The operating profit for Irish Life for the six months ending June 30th 2011 was approximately €41 million.

Irish Times: “It was previously expected that Canada Life would pay more than €1 billion to acquire Irish Life, but that collapsed in the wake of increased bond market volatility after the unexpected failure of an auction of German debt. That made it necessary for the State to step in to fill the void.”

The Government’s plan to buy Irish Life from IL&P was “noted” (Irish Times)  in a EU report circulated in the German parliament. The review of the economic adjustment programme for Ireland also said the State would provide, if needed, “the remaining balance of the required capital of about €1.3 billion following the purchase of Irish Life.” So, was the commitment  made to the EU Commission, the IMF, Germany, or the ECB?

The Times helpfully notes that “it was previously expected that Canada Life would pay more than €1 billion to acquire Irish Life, but that collapsed in the wake of increased bond market volatility after the unexpected failure of an auction of German debt.”

So now you know.

State buys Irish Life from IL&P, Irish Times, Wednesday, March 2012 -

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0328/breaking40.html

The Minister for Local Government has ordered city and county councils to set up teams of staff to call to the homes of people who refuse to pay the €100 household charge.

In an attempt to increase pressure on the 1.3 million households yet to pay, Mr Phil Hogan instructed councils to create so-called "household charge collection teams" and begin targeting offenders. The councils will have to redeploy hundreds of staff to undertake the clampdown but it is unclear how this will work, as thousands of council staff have left due to cutbacks, meaning that workers are often assuming a number of extra responsibilities to fill gaps in services.

The Government has not allocated extra funding to employ workers on a part-time basis, and figures published suggested that hundreds of thousands of house visits are likely to be needed. The officials, (presuming the Government allocates the money to fund the process), will not wear uniforms but will have to carry and produce photo identification.

"We want the local authorities to be on the ground," a spokesman said.

"Come April 2, local authorities will start knocking on doors. The legislation provides for the local authorities to decide when it initiates court proceedings and we don’t want people to get into legal action which can be costly. It’s a matter for local authorities to decide what areas to targets. Staff will carry the appropriate identification."

Households will also be given just two warnings — one verbal, followed by a written warning — before legal action is taken.

Interest and late-payment penalties are added to the €100 charge if it is not paid on time, while people convicted in court face fines of up to €2,500 — plus another €100 penalty per day if they refuse to pay after their conviction.

Source:

Council staff to knock on doors for €100 house charge, by Paul Melia, Irish Independent, March 24th, 2012 – http://www.independent.ie/national-news/council-staff-to-knock-on-doors-for-100-house-charge-3060116.html

Japan Times / NHK – “Thousands of people formed human chains in Germany and France to protest the use of nuclear power on Sunday, the first anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters that crippled the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant, while protesters also gathered at antinuclear rallies in New York and California.”

At least 24,000 people, holding torches, formed an 80-km-long human chain in areas near Braunschweig, Germany, which has decided to abandon nuclear power by the end of 2022, according to an organizer. The chain encircled three nuclear facilities, including a temporary storage site for nuclear waste in the vicinity of the city.

People linked arms for some 230km along a major road in south-eastern France, where many nuclear facilities are located. Demonstrators from France, Germany and Switzerland also rallied at 10 sites as part of the anti-nuclear power protest set up by an NGO. In the town of Cruas, which has power plant facilities, many protestors, including children and old people, formed a human chain and chanted "No to nuclear power."According to the organizers, around 60,000 people took part, while police said about 30,000 participated.

Sources:

Germans, French slam atomic power Thousands form human chains to protest crisis in Fukushima, Japan Times, March 12, 2012 -http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120312x1.html

Protestors say "No" to nuclear power plants – NHK (Radio Japan), 11th March 2011 -http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120312_12.html

Image: James Joyce Bridge, Dublin. http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Joyce_Bridge_detail.jpg

Construction seems to have begun on the Marlborough St. Bridge project. This is a pedestrian bridge linking Marlborough Street and Eden Quay on the north side of the Liffey connecting to Hawkins Street and Burgh Quay on the south side. The plan was conceived by Dublin City Council. The bridge will carry the southbound track of Luas line “when required.” The bridge will  approximately 26 metres wide and 48 metres long, so it is clearly designed for road traffic.

Stated reasons for this bridge:

• It will allow for the reorganisation of the Dublin Bus route network through the provision of new cross-city routing possibilities.
• additional capacity for buses and taxis crossing the River Liffey, as well as providing an additional river crossing for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Bridge was supposed to carry diverted bus and taxi traffic during the construction of the (cancelled) “Metro North” project. The bridge will also allow Dublin Bus to “further revise their network in the City Centre.” That is, divert routes down a narrow street located next to a wide street. How this constitutes good transport planning is unexplained.

“O’Connell Bridge is the busiest walking route in the country with 6,000 pedestrians crossing every hour. It is expected that at least 10% of these pedestrians will use the Marlborough Street Bridge instead, easing pressure on O’Connell Bridge.” (Pressure of what? the number of people, the weight of the people crossing the bridge?)

“There will be knock-on economic benefits for Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street, opening them up to new commercial opportunities.”

The bridge will carry two southbound bus lanes. One lane heading down Hawkins Street and the other turning right onto Burgh Quay. The southbound track for the Luas Line is in the centre. This line will head along Hawkins Street towards Trinity College, Dawson Street and onto St. Stephen’s Green.

Why this project is an expensive and scandalous waste of taxpayers money:

• It will remove large sections of the quay wall on both sides of the Liffey, further destroying the 18th quay frontage, already much damaged by the “Liffey Boardwalk,” and the junk architecture that has scarred the quayside from Heuston Station to O’Connell Bridge., all funded by tax incentives.

• The size indicates a road bridge, there is no evidence that further sections of the Luas will be built, or if they are, why running them down another bridge removed from O’Connell St. will increase Dublin’s public transport capacity. The bridge will increase traffic into Marlborough St., a small Dublin street. Dublin City Council should be reducing traffic into the city centre, not seeking to expand it. DCC has provided no evidence why Dublin needs yet another bridge.

• Traffic will be channelled down Hawkins Street, the traffic into College Green will increase and any hope of reducing traffic in College Green is lost if the bridge is constructed.

• Funnelling the Luas line down Hawkins St. and around Trinity College makes no logical sense, when the line can be run down D’Olier / Westmoreland Streets into College Green from O’Connell St. The objective however, is not to provide a transport system for the capital, but to create a system that does not interfere with existing road traffic. The Marlborough St. Bridge Project can be regarded as a continuation of DCC’s 1960′s “road widening” plans, the car is the centrepiece of city planning, the Luas and cycle lanes are fluff on the surface.

• The phrase, "knock-on economic benefits for Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street, opening them up to new commercial opportunities," signals a re-zoning fest of O’Connell and Marlborough Streets, taxpayer guaranteed.

Sources:

The Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge, Dublin City.ie, August 2011 -

http://www.dublincity.ie/RoadsandTraffic/MajorTransportProjects/Documents/Marlborough_Street_Bridge_Synopsis_-_Aug_2011%5B1%5D.pdf

Marlborough Street bridge plan looks increasingly absurd amid decimated city centre traffic levels, by Vincent Byrne, Indymedia Ireland, Tuesday January 24th, 2012 – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101265