PRESS RELEASE
Troika Policies Devastate Southern Europe
July 29, 2013 (EIRNS)—In her July 27 international webcast presentation, Helga Zepp-LaRouche presented the picture of the physical-economic devastation and intentional genocide being wrought by the British Empire's policies all across Southern Europe. We summarize some of the salient points here (the graphics she used will accompany the text of her speech in the upcoming issue of Executive Intelligence Review):
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Greece: Total unemployment has risen from 9.7% in 2003, to 24.3% in 2012—and continues to soar. Greece is a total IMF success story. Over the 2008-2012 period, poverty rose 30%, homelessness increased by 25%, still births by 22%, suicides by 27%, and prostitution by 150%. During the same period, the total population fell by 10%, as did the birth rate.
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Cyprus: The "Cyprus Template" has meant a 25% drop in electricity consumption since the crisis hit in March 2013, with total unemployment at 22% and rising rapidly.
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Italy: Total unemployment rose from 8.4% in 2003 to over 12% today, with relative poverty now affecting 12.7% of the population, and absolute poverty 6.8%. Over the last 7 years, manfucturing production has fallen by 29%, and intermediate goods production by 44%. Deaths rose from 593,000 in 2011 to 612,000 in 2012, while live births fell from 556,000 to 534,000.
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Spain: In 2012, the total resident population declined for the first time in decades, from 46.2 million to 46.1 million. The youth component (15-24) has been in free fall since 2008, dropping from 4.99 million to 4.56 today—largely a consequence of the over 60% youth unemployment rate. Meanwhile, the share of the government budget siphoned off to debt service, grew from 9% in 2009, to 24% in 2013.
