Frankfurt, Germany this morning.
The organisers, a group called Blockupy – named after the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, estimated that about 10,000 demonstrators were at the rally. Thousands came into the German financial capital from other parts of Europe.
“Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the troika, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government. We want the austerity politics to end,” Ulrich Wilken, one of the organizers, said. “We want a loud but peaceful protest,” he told Reuters.
Protesters clash with police near new European bank HQ in Frankfurt (Reuters)
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We contribute around 2% to the ECB’s budget. That €1.2bn new building is costing us €25m, which is about the cost of the respite care grants which were removed a year or two ago.
In return for our investment we’ll be permitted to floodlight the new building in green next March. That will lead directly to 25 billon trillon of effdeeaye. Isn’t that right, Mr. Noonan?
Sew up your pockets
Where would you suggest the people who run our currency sit? D’ya think that like, we they didn’t build it the money would go straight to whatever pet project you have? Do you think the central bank building in dublin was cheaper then 25m (or indeed the new one)? Do you think that a building with that much space in downtown Frankfurt should be 50p?
How could a building cost €1.2 billion? Is it made of diamonds?
It’s a weird one. Up to now, the ECB had been renting a tower in the center of Frankfurt. In the early 2000s the European Court of Auditors ruled that it would be less costly if the ECB were to move into its own residence.
A location was sought, the treaty establishing the ECB also states that the ECB should be located in the Frankfurt either the city of Frankfurt and the German government (or both) offered the ECB a site at the Grossmarkthalle, a former fruit and vegetable exchange on the river Main.
The thing about this location is that it is a bit out of town and is on the river, any large scale development could have an impact on the local environment, traffic house prices etc., so the ECB struck up an agreement to limit the size of the project and the number of staff working there with the local government. This agreement is legally binding.
The other thing about the Grossmarkthalle is that it was used to ship people off to camps in the 1940s, it therefore holds historical significance. The ECB was also forced not to alter greatly the structure of the building, basically building around the historical structure.
The various legal wranglings and delays as a result of these two concerns were the main causes of budget overruns.
Now here’s the ironic part: In November of last year, following the establishment of the SSM, the ECB became the main banking supervisor of the euro area and to support this function hired over 600 new staff. Thanks to the agreements in place the ECB is not able to locate these staff in the same building, instead they are renting out the building that they previously occupied which was previously ruled too costly to continue renting.
Ha!
It’s always reassuring to hear that bungling is universal.
I don’t think these protesters will be prepared to confront the German security forces, they’re not cake walk compared to some of the other places they tried ‘occupy’.
What other places did they try to occupy?
Fairly sure they’ve never occupied anywhere before. Says they just formed recently.
Actually German police have a very good record when it comes to dealing with protesters. If it was the French or Spanish police they’d have the heads clipped off them