Secret "Group of Thirty" that seized power in the European Union - Professor Katasonov

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Europe is going through difficult times today. And tomorrow they can get even heavier. And the day after tomorrow, Europe, as a kind of civilization that has evolved over many centuries, may disappear altogether. The reasons and manifestations of this "decline of Europe" (according to Oswald Spengler) lot. One of the reasons and one of the manifestations of the “decline” is the loss of Europe's sovereignty. Moreover, no one took away sovereignty from Europe; it itself voluntarily renounced it. This process was called "European integration".

And it began with a seemingly innocent and entirely justified step - the conclusion in 1957 of the Rome Treaty, which established a "common market" for six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg). But, as they say, "the appetite comes with eating." From the "common market" of goods (abandonment of import duties in mutual trade) Europe decided to move to a common market for capital and labor. And then the idea arose to carry out currency integration. To begin with, they decided to introduce a conventional monetary unit into international settlements between European countries, called the ECU. But Europe did not stop there either. She decided to destroy national currencies, replacing them with a currency common to all countries. There were about as many advantages to this idea as there were disadvantages. But all the pluses were "here and now". And the disadvantages could arise only in the future. There were many opponents of the transition to a single currency, but their resistance was broken. To win, currency integrators advertised in every possible way those advantages that would arise “here and now”. And the average European is weak and short-sighted, he always chooses what is "here and now."

Twenty years ago, Europe crossed the red line. On January 1, 1999, a single European currency "euro" appeared in non-cash form, the process of ousting national monetary units began in 11 European states. On January 1, 2002, the emission of cash euro banknotes (banknotes and coins) began; in the same year, the process of ousting national money by the collective and supranational euro currency in 11 states was completed. Countries that abandoned national monetary units formed the so-called eurozone. Currently, there are already 19 states in the eurozone.

The euro has firmly taken the second place after the US dollar in the ranking of world currencies in all indicators (share in settlements, in international reserves, in operations on the FOREX market), etc.

For some time, the countries that entered the eurozone were really euphoric. But the music did not last long. About five years, until Europe was covered by the wave of the global financial crisis. The financial crisis was replaced by a debt crisis, which continues to this day and there are no prospects for a European exit from it.

European Central Bank as a Tool to Eliminate European Identity

The advantages of currency integration began to evaporate, while the disadvantages became more tangible and even deadly. The countries that joined the eurozone have lost a significant part of their sovereignty. They ceded it to a supranational institution called the European Central Bank (ECB). Among all the institutions of European integration (European Parliament, European Commission, European Council, etc.), the ECB has the greatest autonomy. In fact, like any Central Bank, it is "independent", but, probably, the independence of the ECB from the states that established it is much greater than even the independence of the ordinary Central Bank from "its" state.

The ECB was established on July 1, 1998 to begin issuing the euro. The twenty-year history of the ECB's existence shows that it not only has the greatest "independence" from European states in comparison with other institutions of European integration, but that in terms of its influence on the life of Europe it has the greatest influence. The central banks of the eurozone member states are gradually losing their role, the ECB is taking away more and more powers from them, and mainly technical functions are left to the national central banks. The "costs" of the voluntary transfer of money issue rights to the supranational level are beginning to be felt more and more sharply in European countries. The authorities of individual countries belonging to the eurozone cannot shout to such a high authority as the ECB. In some eurozone countries, sentiment is emerging in favor of abandoning the euro and returning to national currencies.

So, in the summer of 2015, Greece was on the verge of default and threatened Brussels that it would leave the eurozone. In Brussels, it was decided to save Greece. Over the course of three years, Greece received a total of 86 billion euros from the three creditors (ECB, European Commission, IMF). The assistance program ended last August. I think that this year Greece will again find itself in a difficult financial situation and will threaten Brussels with an exit from the eurozone.

Euro-currency skepticism on the rise

It's no secret that Euroscepticism is increasingly taking over Europe. Its variation is euro-currency skepticism. Today it is especially visible in Italy, where politicians from such parties as the Five Stars and the League of the North have come to power. The relative level of Italy's sovereign debt has already exceeded 130% of GDP (second place after Greece, where the indicator reached 180% of GDP). The Italian authorities are raising the issue of writing off the country's debts to the European Central Bank in the amount of 250 billion euros. Threatening otherwise to leave the eurozone and return to the lira. It seems paradoxical that even in Germany (the “locomotive” of European integration), sentiments against the euro are outlined. For a while, euro-currency integration played into Germany's hands, contributing to the development of its industry due to the degradation of the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and some other countries. Now these countries are in dire straits, and they need help. But this is not what everyone wants in Germany. There are politicians who not only admit the possibility of excluding a number of countries from the eurozone, but believe that this must be done without fail.

So, there are signs of a halt in currency integration and even currency disintegration. But this is at the level of individual European countries. But in Brussels, they continue to speed up the processes of destroying the remnants of European national sovereignty in the monetary and financial spheres. For example, more and more often the question is raised that an asymmetry has arisen at the level of the entire eurozone: there is a single Central Bank, but there is no single Ministry of Finance. A united Europe requires the classic tandem "Central Bank - Ministry of Finance", which exists in any state. It seems that already at all levels of the EU they have already agreed on the issue that from 2021 a single budget for the eurozone will be formed.

But if today many world media are talking about a single European budget for the eurozone, then another story related to the topic of monetary and financial policy in Europe has been behind the scenes of many media.

Europe is governed by the Group of Thirty

The story itself began in January last year and concerns the figure of the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi … I will briefly outline it, and you will understand why I associate it with Russia. At the beginning of last year, the world's media broadcast very laconic information related to the life of the European Union (EU). EU Ombudsman Emily O'Reillycalled on senior officials of the European Central Bank (ECB) to stop participating in the meetings of the "Group of Thirty" - G30. Everybody knows G-7, G-8, G-20. Some scholars also know the G-10. But the G-30 was known only to a narrow circle of people. Thanks to Emily O'Reilly, the G30 got a good exposure.

It turned out that the G-30 even has its own website, albeit very laconic. Something from it can still be "drained". The group was formed in 1978 by a banker Jeffrey Bellstarring Rockefeller Foundation … The headquarters is located in Washington (USA). Behind the verbal husk of PR information posted on the site, it is seen that the group is formulating recommendations for central banks and the world's leading banks. The participants of the meetings further participate in the implementation of the adopted recommendations, using their administrative capabilities, connections and influence. Since the group was formed with the assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation, it is difficult to imagine that the G-30 did not stand David Rockefeller, died at 102 in March 2017. For most of his life, he ruled Chase Manhattan Bank, one of the world's largest private banks.

Today the group has actually 33 members. All of them are world-famous bankers, heads of major central banks and private commercial and investment banks (from the category of those that the Bank for International Settlements today classifies as “backbone”). Some persons on the site are presented as “former”, others as “current”. But we understand perfectly well that in the world of “owners of money” there are no “former” ones. I will only list the "top leadership" of the G-30 (in square brackets - position / position in the "outside" world):

Chairman of the Board of Trustees - Yakov Frenkel (Jacob A. Frenkel) [Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International].

Chairman of the group (Chairman) - Tarman Shanmugaratnam (Tharman Shanmugaratnam) [Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, Singapore].

Treasurer - Guillermo Oritz (Guillermo Ortiz), [Chairman of the investment bank BTG Pactual Mexico].

Chairman Emeritus - Paul Volcker (Paul A. Volcker) [former chairman of the US Federal Reserve].

Honorary Chairman - Jean-Claude Trichet (Jean-Claude Trichet) [Former President of the European Central Bank].

In the list of members of the Group, we also find the current President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, who was "spotted" in January last year when the EU Ombudsman said that his membership in the G-30 generates a "conflict of interest." Why did the European Union official demand that the European Central Bank (ECB) stop participating in the G30 meetings? The G30 is comprised of executives and representatives from a number of banks overseen by the ECB. Such tacit contacts of the financial regulator with supervised institutions are prohibited by EU rules.

Europe has once again lost to the "owners of money"

But in reality, everything is much more serious. After all, Emily O'Reilly did not raise the issue on her own initiative. It was forced to do this by tens of thousands of European anti-globalization activists, who were very worried that the banking system of the European Union is not even controlled by the European Central Bank, but by a higher authority. Namely, the Group of Thirty. And Mario Draghi only receives instructions from the G-30 and implements them. The ECB itself has a special status; in fact, it is not controlled by either the European Parliament, or the European Commission, or other institutions of the European Union. And then it turns out that even over the ECB there is a higher authority called the G-30, which is not only not controlled by anyone, but the existence of which many did not even know.

The insinuating and cautious Mario Draghi reacted to the ombudsman's statement unusually sharply and categorically: “I have participated (in the work of the G-30) and will participate”. According to our information, Draghi has traveled to the Group's meetings several times over the past year. But Brussels found itself in confusion, not knowing how to react to the current situation. In the end, the case migrated to the European Parliament, which was entrusted with the honorable duty of preparing a decision. Passions were in full swing among the deputies. A group of deputies, consisting of Eurosceptics and leftists, prepared a draft amendment to the resolution adopted earlier by the European Parliament following the consideration of the ECB's 2017 annual report. The essence of the amendments is to prohibit Mario Draghi and other ECB officials from participating in the work of the "secret" G30. Initially, the draft amendments were supported by 181 deputies, while 439 deputies were against.

Supporters of Draghi and his course proposed their own version, which left it to the discretion of the European Central Bank to decide whether or not to participate in the work of the G-30 (and other similar groups and organizations), guided by the need to conduct a "correct" monetary policy in the European Union … As you can see, the essence of the amendments was emasculated, and a document “about nothing” was obtained (in the usual style of the European Parliament). And in mid-January 2019, the final vote was held on the version of the "nothing" amendments. Here are the results: for - 500 votes; against - 115; abstained - 19.

In simple terms, Mario Draghi, as well as subsequent presidents of the ECB, received the full right to participate in the work of any secret organizations, citing the need to develop a "correct" monetary policy. Eurosceptics, antiglobalists and leftists qualified this decision of the "people's representatives" of "United Europe" as the final destruction of Europe's sovereignty, transferring it under the full control of the "owners of money".