The draconian list of demands eurozone leaders handed to the Greek government in return for a European bailout has inspired a social media backlash against Germany and its hawkish finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble.
#ThisIsACoup was the second top trending hashtag on Twitter worldwide – and top in Germany and Greece – as eurozone leaders argued through the night to convince the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, to take the deal or face bankruptcy and his country’s expulsion from the euro. The hashtag also featured strongly in Finland, whose government is open to the idea of a Grexit.
Interesting. #ThisIsACoup is also the top trending topic in Germany! pic.twitter.com/iuKR3GYTqD
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 12, 2015
This is the #Finland I'm proud of! #ThisIsACoup #2 #SolidarityWithGreece #IStandWithGreece - via @twitter_fi pic.twitter.com/GFZrghPOFn
— Sarianna Nikkola (@kreetalainen) July 12, 2015
The tag was attached to tens of thousands of angry comments denouncing German-inspired proposals for European Union-directed reforms of Greece’s public administration and demands that Athens pass new laws within days to raise taxes and cut back on pensions.
It was given impetus when Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate economist, praised it on his New York Times blog: “The trending hashtag ThisIsACoup is exactly right,” he wrote. “This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief.
“It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can’t accept; but even so, it’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for.”
Pablo Iglesias, the secretary-general of Spain’s anti-austerity Podemos party, joined in tweeting: “All our support to the Greek people and his government against the mobsters #ThisIsACoup”.
Todo nuestro apoyo al pueblo griego y a su gobierno frente a los mafiosos #ThisIsACoup
— Pablo Iglesias (@Pablo_Iglesias_) July 12, 2015
Among other elements of the EU proposals to cause outrage was a suggestion that some €50bn ($56bn) of Greek public assets be placed in an independent trust based in Luxembourg, out of reach of Greek politicians, the proceeds of which from privatisations would go directly to pay debts.
Could someone slip a note to the European leaders about the scale of anger and disbelief building up across the continent? #ThisIsACoup
— javier moreno barber (@morenobarber) July 12, 2015
The hashtag appeared to originate on Sunday evening from Sandro Maccarrone, who describes himself as a physics teacher from Barcelona. He tweeted: “The Eurogroup proposal is a covert coup d’etat against the Greek people. #ThisIsACoup #Grexit.”
Huge popularity of #thisisacoup suggests Germany and eurozone in general are at risk of losing blame game big time.
— Hugo Dixon (@Hugodixon) July 12, 2015
Within hours it had been used nearly 200,000 times.
Barbara Lochbihler, a member of the European Parliament for Germany’s Greens party, tweeted: “They talk about trust. Only to draft a proposal that is pure humiliation. Brilliant idea. #ThisIsACoup #EuroSummit #Shaeuble #Grexit.”
Pictures tweeted with the hashtag included Schaeuble branded with a swastika and the blue European flag with its circle of gold stars rearranged into the same Nazi symbol. Common, too, were images from Germany’s second world war occupation of Greece.
The anger reflects a running current of ill-feeling between Greeks, who elected Tsipras’s radical leftist party in January to end five years of painful austerity demanded by creditors, led by Germany, the euro zone’s dominant economic power.
Reuters contributed to this report
