The EU's Hara-kiri: How Europe Immolated Itself to the Interests of the Star-Spangled Oligarchy

European follies. The latest in the series was the so-called "agreement" between the EU and the US that sets tariffs on European goods and services at 15%, as well as onerous concessions by European countries, such as a commitment to massive investment in the US and to purchase a large share of their energy needs from them, for the next few years. All this with practically nothing in return.
An agreement that has been called a surrender, a capitulation, even by most of the mainstream media!

All this is in addition to Rearm Europe and the NATO programme to increase military spending to 5% of GDP, other crazy decisions that will have a very negative impact on the public accounts and welfare state of EU countries in the years (and perhaps decades) to come.
Evidently, the 5% Nato concession in defence spending was not enough for Europe to avoid the tariffs and other impositions it had to endure from Trump. The only country that tried to keep its back straight was the Spanish government of Sanchez, which rightly declared that it could not go beyond the previously established limit of 2% of GDP.
It has to be said, in truth, that Sachez's refusal was also dictated by domestic political necessity and, moreover, Spain, compared to other countries such as Italy, is less blackmailable on the issue of duties, since exports to the USA are not so significant.
Whatever one wants but Spain has demonstrated that one can truly be a sovereign country and do (first) the interests of its citizens and not those of the US and the oligarchies. Unlike other governments of European countries that instead only make propaganda and in fact are absolutely bent to external (mainly American) diktats, like for example the Italian government of PM Giorgia Meloni.
European rearmament has also been pushed by the propaganda of most of the mainstream media, according to which it is necessary, on the one hand because of the United States' intention to pull out of the war in Ukraine and reduce spending on European defence, and on the other because of the threat Russia would pose to the entire European Union.
An hypothetical and improbable threat, used as a bogeyman to condition public opinion, apparently without much success among Europeans, except for the citizens of the Baltic republics, for historical reasons, and maybe of other neighboring countries, like Finland.
What many people have in fact realised, and what should be clear to everyone, is that it is not "only" a question of increasing military spending and the subsequent,increasing risk of more wars breaking out.
It is also about taking hundreds of billions away from public services, imposing austerity measures that will reduce the welfare state to a minimum, with the aim of selling off these services to the private sector, i.e. ultimately to large financial groups such as investment funds.
Which will thus profit doubly; on the one hand from the production and sale of various armaments and on the other from supplementary pensions, health policies, healthcare and so on.
Guess who will have to pay for all this?