In an open letter the German tabloid Bild has reminded Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou of the two countries’ differences: “Here, people work until they are 67 and there is no 14th-month salary for civil servants. Here, nobody needs to pay a €1,000 bribe to get a hospital bed in time . . . Germany also has high debts but we can settle them. That’s because we get up early and work all day.”
It is an excellent example of the major flaw of the European Union, and by extension one-world government. Cultural differences make it impossible for some nations to operate within the same union.
Greece should be allowed to bankrupt itself, and Germans should be allowed to work their lives away. Spaniards should keep their nap times, and the French continue to be vague on the notion of customer service. All these nations should also live with the financial results of their cultural decisions. And if those choices result in poverty, they should live with that as well. No one should be forced to subsidize laziness.
