General / Off-Topic José Manuel Barroso at Goldman Sachs - Long live the European Union

"Without shame", "indecent", an "arm of honor": a criticism rained down Saturday in France and Portugal and european parliament, the former President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will join the bank Goldman Sachs US investment. Goldman Sachs had helped in the early 2000s, the Greek government to mask its deficits to remain in the euro ... (among other malpractices ...). This nomination shows that the European elite to which belongs Barroso has no shame

8201810.jpg
 
Last edited:

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
He's retired from politics to go and work at a bank.

This grants the bank access to the EU corridors of power via his epic contact list.

This allows the bank more influence on EU decisions.

This is an affront to democracy.

Not to defend the EU, but it is a problem in just about every country. See how many retired politicians suddenly crop up as directors or consultants in roles. To give a few examples, Dave Hartnett (HMRC, most wined and dined civil servant ever, joined Deloitte), Gordon Brown at PIMCO, Jacqui Smith to KPMG etc etc.
 
He's retired from politics to go and work at a bank.

This grants the bank access to the EU corridors of power via his epic contact list.

This allows the bank more influence on EU decisions.

This is an affront to democracy.

Not to defend the EU, but it is a problem in just about every country. See how many retired politicians suddenly crop up as directors or consultants in roles. To give a few examples, Dave Hartnett (HMRC, most wined and dined civil servant ever, joined Deloitte), Gordon Brown at PIMCO, Jacqui Smith to KPMG etc etc.

Read the report in Liberation and as scandalous as it is, It seems to be another day at the office frankly.

More importantly, I wonder what can be done about it? I suspect nothing.
 
Read the report in Liberation and as scandalous as it is, It seems to be another day at the office frankly.

More importantly, I wonder what can be done about it? I suspect nothing.

This is not an accusation. This kind of situation creates the suspiscion and the past of Barroso and of Goldman Sachs are not for the transparency. Nobody accuses or suspects Barroso of conflict of interest. It is a matter here of ethics and morality. For him and for the next top leaders of the European Union
 
Read the report in Liberation and as scandalous as it is, It seems to be another day at the office frankly.

More importantly, I wonder what can be done about it? I suspect nothing.

well, considering we can't event vote them, don't even think about having a discussion about ethics when they are not in charge..
 
More reason to get the heck out of dodge = EU

Exactly the current system is completely broken. These creeps take decisions against the welfare of citizens and for the welfare of big banks then get rewarded by a cushy job for life. One of our beauties from Ireland Peter Sutherland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutherland came on Irish television explaining how we should take on the full 200 billion of private bank debt and not burn any bondholders. He held a post in the EU commission then Goldman. These guys are destroying the EU and don't give a fiddlers about their own citizens.

If people don't want the likes of Farage and Le Pen to become popular they need to harass the main parties over obvious conflicts of interest like this, endemic corruption does not just fix itself and if its left to fester ordinary people who cant catch a break with higher taxes, lower wages, short sighted privatisation of key infrastructure and health cuts will look for simpler solutions.
 
Last edited:

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
More reason to get the heck out of dodge = EU

And how do you propose to remove the problem from our own political classes? This is not just an EU level issue, you see it happen in every democracy. I gave a few examples above from the UK.
 
And how do you propose to remove the problem from our own political classes? This is not just an EU level issue, you see it happen in every democracy. I gave a few examples above from the UK.

Nobody said it was easy, the problem is these Commisioners who are beholden to corporations/banks and not elected by civilians are running the EU. They threaten governments to influence policy all the time. Look at Peter Sutherland for example, the man was never actually elected in Ireland(political appointee to Attorney General and banker) yet he moved to the upper echelons of the Commission as well as being involved in the Bildeberg group wielding massive power over the lives of EU citizens.

If he was elected in Ireland or UK and people were sick of his corruption, they could vote him out. The EU commission is an affront to democracy full of unelected 'untouchable' crooks.
 
Last edited:

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
Nobody said it was easy, the problem is these Commisioners who are beholden to corporations/banks and not elected by civilians are running the EU. They threaten governments to influence policy all the time. Look at Peter Sutherland for example, the man was never actually elected in Ireland(political appointee to Attorney General and banker) yet he moved to the upper echelons of the Commission as well as being involved in the Bildeberg group wielding massive power over the lives of EU citizens.

If he was elected in Ireland or UK and people were sick of his corruption, they could vote him out. The EU commission is an affront to democracy full of unelected 'untouchable' crooks.

Ireland's elected government put him there. Change your government, chances are he would be changed too.

Same as the UK's elected government put Dave Hartnett into HMRC. Or a Lord working for a corporation.

Same result.

My point is this is not an EU thing, and the EU is no less democratic than the UK government (I cannot speak for others). It 'feels' that it is partially because it utterly fails to engage with the populace, partially because it feels remote, and partially because it's a convenient scapegoat for national issues.
 

verminstar

Banned
Then if the whole establishment is broken, lets have a referendum that splits this nation into two forcing them into a course of action they did not foresee...hence brexit becomes a huge spanner thrown into the gears for those who wanted to drag us into the EU superstate against our wishes. Considering our shift away from the bloc and the fact our homegrown establishment is in tatters, I would tend to think of that as a good result because both establishments just got a cattle prod up the jacksie along with a sharp reminder that the people have the power, not the bankers and the brokers.

If the unelected are put there by our own governments, then it really wasn't just the EU bloc that was wrong, it was our own system. If the system wanted us to stay in the bloc, then considering their history, a large number of ppl would vote out because we have lost all faith in our own governments to do what the people who put them there were telling them. The EU was just as wrong for accepting this state of affairs and neither party can defend their actions...hence brexit. Our chance to finally have our say and our say is get out of the EU...now before they do any more damage or strip away any more of our rights ^^
 
Last edited:
The France asks to Barroso to "renounce" to work for Goldman Sachs. France asked "solemnly". "Morally, politically, ethically, it is a fault of Barroso"
 
Back
Top Bottom