All language subtitles for h.u.s03e05.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
History is not an exact science,

it is never setting stone.

(CROWD CHANTING)

As time passes,

knowledge of the past
is refined

and evolves.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

But by definition,

existing ideas have thick skins

and are hard to shift.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR:
I have a dream,

that all men are created...

To understand
the realities of the world,

you sometimes have to shake them up

and decipher the facts

by looking at them another way.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

The subprime crisis

sticks in the mind
as an American disaster.

And yet.

On 1 July, 2006,

America's golden age of property
breathed its last.

Millions of families
who had taken out loans

at variable interest rates,

saw their payments sky rocket.

Unable to honour their commitments,
many were evicted.

Their homes were seized
and put back on the market.

The market soon became saturated
and prices tumbled.

(DOG BARKING IN THE DISTANCE)

Loan companies,

who had shown little regard
for their customers solvency,

were ruined.

The subprime crisis had just begun.

The thousands of families
expropriated in 2007,

were just the first victims
of the crisis.

The credit companies
that had offered them terms

had simultaneously

been the sorcerer's apprentices
of finance.

Through clever sleight of hand,

they turned their clients debts
into a financial product

of an unequalled profitability.

Known as sub-primes,

these miracle investments
attracted speculators

from all over the world,

giving birth to a genuine Eldorado

from which
the big international banks

made endless profits.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

With the collapse
of the American housing market,

these once desirable securities
had become toxic.

Their holders realised
it was a huge con trick

and tried to get rid of them
as discreetly as they could.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

On 9 August, 2007,

France committed a blunder.

The BNP Paribas bank
closed three of its investment funds

that were index-linked
to the American housing market.

Its customers only learned of it
from the press.

They
would never get their money back.

This triggered a chain reaction.

In just a few hours,

the news spread
through the financial world.

Any subprime holder
was in danger of going bankrupt.

Mistrust turned to fear.

The banks stopped lending,

money stopped circulating,

the global economy ground to a halt.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The Central European Bank
reacted immediately.

Its governor, Jean-Claude Trichet,
opened the liquid assets floodgates.

In a bid to reboot the system,

156 billion euros were provided
to the Union's cash-strapped banks.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

In less than 24 hours,

a huge life saver

was unconditionally injected
into the banking sector.

It was in vain.

The stock markets plummeted.

BNP's woes
boomeranged back to the USA.

The financial markets
around the world

have been roiled

by difficulties in France.

(TRUCK BEEPING)

The finance minister,
Christine Lagarde,

cut short her holiday

to give the people of France
a lesson in macro-economics.

The first warning shot
of the subprime crisis

was not taken seriously.

One month later,

the British bank Northern Rock,

having gambled too heavily
on subprimes,

was on the brink of bankruptcy.

All over the United Kingdom,

investors
rushed to recoup their savings.

NEWS REPORTER: Among many

of Northern Rock's
1.5 million savers,

confidence is evaporating.

An estimated 1 billion pounds
has been withdrawn already.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Coffee, tea, one pound.

Coffee, tea, one pound.

The British stiff upper lip
remained firm

but the credibility
of Europe's financial capital

had been seriously damaged.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

With its back to the wall,

the government had to bail out
the stricken bank.

This nationalisation
was very costly for taxpayers

but allowed investors
to hold on to their savings.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

In the Autumn of 2007,

on either side of the Atlantic,

money was being printed
at an unprecedented rate.

Almost 300 billion euros

were injected

into the international
banking system.

It was a first ever.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Short of liquid assets
during the summer,

these same banks
rewarded their shareholders.

In late 2007,

the dividends paid out
were higher than the previous year.

Order
seemed to have been restored.

And yet.

The American giant,
Lehman Brothers,

look set to bite the dust.

Lehman Brothers,

has filed for the biggest
bankruptcy in history.

The collapse of America's
fourth biggest business bank

marked the peak of the crisis.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

That very evening,
its employees left its Manhattan HQ.

NEWS REPORTER:
What was your reaction to that?

Anger, sadness.

You know, I never thought
it would come to this.

It's just a tragedy.

25,000 employees.

It was Monday, 15 September, 2008

and a vicious circle
was set in motion.

The crash,
which had been gestating for months,

put the Treasury Secretary,
Henry Paulson,

on the rack.

Good afternoon, everyone.

And I hope you all had
an enjoyable weekend.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, as you know...

A nervous laugh

that did little
to disguise the predicament

the American authorities were in.

(CAR HONKING)

The day after the biggest
financial collapse in history,

all the markets caved in

and losses were colossal.

(BEEPING)

But the main concern
for the American Federal Reserve

was Europe.

(BEEPING)

Its governor, Ben Bernanke,

thought that the old continent

would be unable
to withstand the tsunami

that was about to hit it.

And he was to be proved right.

Just like Wall Street, London,
Paris and Frankfurt nose-dived.

But the big powers
of the European Union

were still not on high alert.

The Europeans
displayed a puzzling nonchalance,

as if the subprimes cyclone
was going to spare them.

At this point,

France assumed
the presidency of the Union.

President Nicolas Sarkozy
was its mouthpiece.

(CROWD CLAPPING)

In a fervent speech,

he denounced the excesses
of the financial world.

Once keen
to promote the introduction

of subprimes in France,

Sarkozy suddenly became
the sworn enemy of capitalism.

His indictment
delighted his ministers

and militants.

But by not having a clear strategy,

he allowed the crisis to escalate.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Four days later, Ireland went under.

Though the losses
of its three biggest banks

were the equivalent of eight times
the national GDP,

finance minister, Brian Lenihan,
committed to guaranteeing them.

It was an outlandish promise,

the whole country was now at risk
of bankruptcy.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Lenihan would admit
that this senseless decision

was taken after a call

from the president
of the European Central Bank,

who convinced him to save his banks
at any cost.

Jean-Claude Trichet, for his part,

has always denied
applying any kind of pressure.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The crisis worsened
with every passing day.

Every bank was under threat.

The only possible defence

was an intervention
at European level.

But Germany was firmly opposed
to this.

Jean-Claude Trichet was emphatic.

"A common European solution
is not appropriate

"as the Euro zone
is not a budgetary union."

The president of the Eurogroup,
Jean-Claude Juncker,

went one better.

"This crisis comes from the USA,

"it is deeper.

"Europe will get by
with national solutions."

The myopia of the Union's leaders
prevented any European action.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

At the same time,

the USA launched a $700 billion plan
for stabilising their economy.

The motion is adopted.

That very evening,

President George Bush
ratified the plan.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

The heart of financial capitalism
was partly nationalised

and all of the country's power
was mobilised

to extricate the nation
from the mire.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

MAN: (INDISTINCT).

The following day, Europe acted.

France, Germany, Great Britain
and Italy met in Paris

in front of the world's cameras.

It was time to come to an agreement.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel,

the British prime minister,
Gordon Brown

and the Italian PM,
Silvio Berlusconi,

had to admit
that this was an emergency.

Three weeks after the crash,

there was still no common plan
of action.

Only a will to regulate finance
was expressed.

It would take ten years
for this promised regulation

to become mandatory.

On the same day,

BNP Paribas decided to buy
the Fortis group.

The struggling Belgian bank
and insurance company

was saved within the day.

The moral being,

financiers are far more reactive
than politicians.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

However, the imminent failure
of the German Bank, Hypo Real Estate,

reshuffled the cards.

Angela Merkel had pledged not to use
any public money

to rescue this struggling business.

She backtracked.

The astronomically expensive
rescue mission

could not slow the gathering storm.

Investors had lost patience
with the Union's inability

to find any common ground.

On 6 October,

the hysteria
of the stock markets

reached fever pitch.

That day, $2,000 billion
went up in smoke.

On the seventh,

Angela Merkel
persisted with her refusal

to intervene.

On the eighth,
Britain was on the brink of disaster.

The Royal Bank of Scotland,
the world's richest bank,

was just hours from capsizing.

The UK
began its partial nationalisation.

Spain adopted a plan
to support the banking sector

to the tune of 30 billion euros.

For naught.

The disparate decisions
taken by the member states

did nothing to reduce the anxiety
of the markets.

Despite the colossal sums invested,

Paris, London and Frankfurt
fell by over 20%.

It was the worst week
for the stock markets in history.

NEWS REPORTER: The reserve
has taken unprecedented...

After further record falls
in Wall Street,

President Bush drummed up support.

Citizens are rightly concerned.

In our interconnected world,
no nation,

will gain by driving down
the fortunes of another.

We're in this together,

we'll come through it together.

The message got through.

Faced with the decline
of the German financial system,

Angela Merkel gave the green light
to a European rescue plan.

The Union's leaders
finally had a common front.

The plan cost 1,700 billion euros,

more than twice the amount
the USA had pledged.

The price of four weeks
of prevarication.

While some 30
American financial institutions

were lost,

all the European banks
were bailed out with public funds.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The markets were back in business,

for one day only.

Then, the downward spiral continued.

On Christmas eve,

Belgium was mired
in the Fortis scandal.

Suspected of having sold
its financial soul

to the French bank, BNP Paribas,

the government fell.

In Iceland,
everything was going wrong.

Following a resounding collapse,

ruined investors demanded the heads
of the imprudent bankers.

The snowballs thrown at parliament

were just the beginning
of a long rebellion.

In Latvia,

the situation
had suddenly deteriorated.

In just a few weeks,
public debt had doubled,

thousands of jobs were at risk

and the government was on the brink
of being overthrown.

(CROWD SHOUTING)

Neighbouring Lithuania
was also severely affected.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(GUNSHOTS)

In Ireland,
unemployment hit hard

and the country went into recession.

But the governor of the ECB
refused to panic.

Among these experts,

commissioner, Joaquin Almunia,

was far less equivocal.

His report
to the European commission

was very clear.

"The shops that are shaking
the European economy

"should both reduce the rate
of potential growth

"and worsen unemployment.

"The economic slow down
will affect families, households

"and the most vulnerable populations
of our societies.

"The measures put in place
to recapitalise the banks

"are already
raising the levels of debt."

In late 2008,

the consequences of the crisis
had been recognised.

It was time for action.

(CROWD CHEERING AND CLAPPING)

BARACK OBAMA:
Our nation is at war.

2009 began with a fresh hope.

(CROWD CLAPPING AND CHEERING)

Newly elected American president,
Barack Obama,

approved a recovery plan
of a magnitude

not seen since World War II.

Preserve, protect and defend

the constitution
of the United States.

MAN: So help you God.
So help me God.

The equivalent
of the US defence budget

was spent on the unemployed,

education and tax cuts.

(CROWD CHEERING AND CLAPPING)

In Europe, the opposite happened.

The recovery sounded like a raft
of generous promises.

France only pledged 26 billion euros.

Its partners announced amounts
that were equally derisory

in view of the hundreds of billions

promised
to save the financial sector.

The European strategy
was the world's least ambitious,

when it was the most severely
afflicted continent.

The banks, that had only
just been bailed out,

closed lines of credit.

Hundreds of businesses

had to abruptly postpone investments
and job offers.

While the number of redundancies
in France had grown twofold,

unemployment in Denmark
had already doubled

and tripled in the Baltic states.

(TENSE MUSIC)

In Latvia, it touched 20%.

Spain had 800,000 new unemployed.

One young person in three
was jobless.

In Autumn, 2009,

one year after the collapse
of Lehman Brothers,

the European Union
was still in the doldrums.

People in Spain, Ireland and Portugal

had lost their jobs
and their savings.

While America
showed signs of recovery,

Europe transformed a financial crisis
into an economic crisis.

On 5 November,

a small country which had hitherto
played no part in proceedings,

was thrust centre-stage,

Greece.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The new prime minister,
Giorgos Papandreou,

revealed that public accounts
had been falsified for years,

the country's deficit
was twice what had been declared.

It broke the ceiling
authorised by the Union.

Greece had Europe
quaking in its boots.

The German finance minister,
Wolfgang Schaulbe,

was scathing.

Germany would not help Greece,

neither would the ECB.

Its governor refused categorically.

European treaties were binding.

Officially, a central bank
could only lend to other banks.

What Jean-Claude Trichet
deliberately omitted to mention,

was that the European Central Bank

had been covertly repurchasing
toxic subprimes,

so that they disappeared
from the banks' balance sheets.

A practice
also absent for many treaties.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Month by month,
the situation deteriorated.

In late March, 2010,

Ireland was still sinking.

Spain and Portugal were reeling.

As their debts grew,

their hopes of growth were vanishing.

Greece, left to its own devices,
was broke.

Europe was subsiding.

The stock markets were frantic,
indexes plummeted.

Old Europe's instability
was a threat to the world.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

After six long months
of pussyfooting,

the Europeans decided to act.

110 billion euros
were given to private banks.

It would be up to them
to decide on lending conditions.

Delinquent Greece would no longer
have the benefit

of the preferential rates
accorded to its partners.

Interest on its debts
went through the roof.

Athens would pay a high price
for its lifejacket.

Neither Greece
nor the other stricken countries

would get any grace from the banks.

On the contrary,

these indebted states
would fill their coffers,

which had been emptied
by the subprimes.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(CROWD CHANTING)

The people of Greece
were not prepared to accept this.

(CROWD CHEERING AND CLAPPING)

As its ministers endorsed
the most severe austerity programme

ever inflicted
on a modern democracy,

the people of Athens
marched on parliament.

The building was stormed.

(SHOUTING)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(SCREAMING)

An entire nation rose up

against the measures
demanded by the Union.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(GUNSHOTS)

These included salary reductions,

raising the retirement age

and higher prices.

With one of the lowest
qualities of life in Europe,

these sacrifices
would drag the Greeks

even further down.

(SIRENS WAILING)

At the peak of the violence,
a petrol bomb destroyed a bank.

(SIRENS WAILING)

Three employees died of asphyxiation.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Athens was all fire and tears,
deep into the night.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(SIRENS WAILING)

The burning street reduced to cinders

the last hope for any confidence
in the stock markets.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The next day,

the market plummeted
at a more breath taking rate

than ever.

The 110 billion euros
allocated to Greece

were a mere drop in the ocean

of the 1,000 billion euros
of losses on that afternoon.

The situation was even more critical
than when Lehman Brothers collapsed.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

At the ECB's headquarters,
tension was at its peak.

The institution's non-intervention
in the Greek rescue operation

disconcerted all those involved
in the stock markets,

many were already betting
on its implosion.

Following international pressure,

a European summit
was urgently organised

in an apocalyptic atmosphere.

A shocked and pale Nicolas Sarkozy
lambasted the ECB.

"Come on, come on,
stop hesitating."

The weekend's priority

was to give Europe back
some credibility

before the Asian markets opened
on the following Monday.

The solution was to award Greece
a financial stability fund.

The cost of the operation
was 750 billion euros.

Such was the price
of procrastination.

Finally, the ECB stuck its neck out

by buying back a portion
of the Greek debt.

Europe was getting out of trouble
but at what cost?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Despite his setback on Greece,

Jean-Claude Trichet
did not drop his guard.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Ireland, which was barely managing
to stay afloat,

considered begging its banks
for help.

A well argued letter
convinced them to do otherwise.

As a last resort,

the Celtic Tiger
turned to the European Union.

Financial aid was awarded,

in return for four years
of budgetary rigour.

Hikes in income tax,
new taxes and charges,

cuts to social welfare
and the public sector pay-bill.

These are just
some of the measure

to take 15 billion euro
out of the economy and...

Austerity was visited
upon the Irish people.

Angered spilled onto the streets.

(BAGPIPES SKIRL)

(CROWD SHOUTING)

Fight this government
against the lowest pay!

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING).

(SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY),

the worst finance minister

in the whole of Europe.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

In the economic miasma of late 2010,

the public deficits
of the EU countries got deeper.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

And only one country's accounts
were in the black...

..Estonia's.

Its budgetary rigour had paid off.

The small Baltic state

proudly celebrated its accession
to the Eurozone,

barely seven years
after it had joined the Union.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Its garlands were well deserved.

(CROWD CHEERING)

This was an exceptional triumph,

after two years of the crisis,

austerity remained the norm.

The following Summer,

Spain and Italy
had to fall into line,

with the introduction
of, "Large scale privatisation,

"a revision of redundancy procedures,

"a reduction of public spending,

"a reduction in state pensions

"and civil servants' salaries."

While denying
that this was an ultimatum,

Europe's big financial backer

defended its letters
and justified them.

(CROWD CHEERING)

The millions of citizens concerned

were far from in agreement
with the ECB's doctrine.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(CROWD CHANTING)

The beleaguered people of Spain,

Italy, Portugal, Ireland
and the UK

began to stand up to the diktats
of austerity.

(CROWD CHANTING)

They're trying to take
from my child benefit,

which keeps my children
at school,

feeds my children

and my car will be off the road

if they take from my child benefit.

I do feel
that the government is...

..quabbing the poor
and the working people

and bankers
are still getting very big bonuses

and I think
it's a little disgusting

to say the least.

(INDISTINCT) old age pension.

We've only 200 (INDISTINCT).

CROWD: No pay.
No way!

That's why we're angry.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

Europe's capitals were in turmoil.

(CROWD CLAPPING)

(CROWD SINGING)

A feeling of injustice
led to grievances.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The sense of betrayal
by the Union's leaders

was the cornerstone
of the opposition.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The economic crisis
was followed by a social crisis

of an unprecedented magnitude.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(CROWD CHANTING)

The forces of law and order
were frequently overwhelmed

by an anger that wanted to take
its revenge on the system.

From mayhem in Madrid
to looting in London,

the atmosphere was electric.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

In Brussels,

a demonstration by dockers
degenerated into riots.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

But Europe held its course,

restrictions were imposed

while those responsible
for the financial fiasco

went unpunished.

The banks regained their impetus.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Leading the charge were BNP Paribas,

the Deutsche Bank

and three British banks.

European finance
had managed to weather the storm.

Then, the reluctant leaders
began their merry dance.

Top of the list,

Greek prime minister,
Georgios Papandreou.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

He wanted to put Greece's
continued membership of the Eurozone

to a referendum.

This is a question,

are whether we want to remain
in the Eurozone

The uncertainty of a popular vote
was seen as far too great a threat

to the stability of the EU.

Forsaken by his European partners,

Papandreou was forced to backtrack

and resigned.

His replacement was none other

than the former vice-president
of the ECB, Lucas Papademos,

Jean-Claude Trichet's
faithful right-hand man

for eight years.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Installed at the head
of a transition government,

he began to apply the austerity

necessary for Greece
to remain in the Eurozone.

Former co-governor
of the bank of Greece,

it was on his watch

that the falsification
of public accounts

that had thrown his country

and the rest of Europe into chaos
had begun.

The same week,

it was Silvio Berlusconi's turn
to be shown the door

and be replaced by Mario Monti.

A former financial expert
with Goldman Sachs,

he held dual roles
as Italian prime minister

and finance minister.

He instigated
swingeing budgetary measures,

notably on the health sector

and increased taxes.

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)

Bankers were seizing power in Europe.

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)

In late 2011,

Jean-Claude Trichet's reign
came to an end.

(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)

In one of life's little ironies,

his successor, Mario Draghi,

was the former vice-president
of Goldman Sachs,

the bank that had created
the financial products

at the root of the subprime crisis.

He very quickly implemented
a new obduracy,

"The ECB is prepared
to take all necessary measures

"to preserve the euro."

Draghi was adamant.

The ECB would intervene
in the event of any problem.

The markets were mollified,
confidence was restored.

But four years of indecisiveness
had polarised opinion.

In the polling booths,
the, "Sick of it" party,

often did well,

either by record levels
of abstention

or by unseating those in power.

In one election after another,

the governments
that had imposed austerity

were punished.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

With the exception of Angela Merkel
in Germany,

all the heads of state incumbent
at the time of the subprime crisis

were swept aside by popular suffrage.

Only austerity
withstood popular anger.

But the sense
that the financial world

had gone too far was growing.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(CROWD CHEERING)

As proved by the emergence
of a number of anti-system parties,

such as the Front de Gauche
or Leftist Front in France.

(CROWD CHEERING)

New figures appeared
on the political stage,

such as the postal worker,
Olivier Besancenot,

who founded
the New Anti-Capitalist Party.

(LANGUAGE UNKNOWN TO CAPTIONER)

In Spain,

the indignant ones

occupied the Puerta del Sol
for several months.

(CROWD CHEERING)

This movement was founded
by young graduates

who were bearing the full brunt
of unemployment,

who blamed the traditional parties
for the crisis

and called for direct democracy.

(INSTRUMENTAL BACKGROUND MUSIC)

This spontaneous surge soon gave rise

to a genuine political force
in Podemos,

led by Pablo Iglesias.

Not far behind, in Greece,

Syriza,
a brand new radical left-wing party,

led by Alexis Tsipras,

acted as the arbiter
in the country's chess game.

(CROWD CHANTING)

In Italy, the Five Star Movement,
led by Beppe Grillo,

a comedian turned political agitator,

effected a remarkable breakthrough.

The popularity of a party
driven by an entertainer

terrified the established order.

(CROWD CHEERING)

From the beginning of the crisis,

nationalist movements
had been gaining in influence.

In Hungary, Croatia and Finland...

..even Germany saw a resurgence

of the extreme right
in the shape of the AFD.

Its leader, Bernd Lucke,

advocated leaving the euro.

A fervent Eurosceptic,

he decried
and taunted the powers that be.

Despite being newly founded,

the party got 2 million votes
in the elections.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The crisis discredited
the entire European political class.

Traditional parties
found themselves more diminished

than ever before

by movements

that shared
a common visceral rejection

of the EU's institutions.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

In the European elections of 2014,

a number of Eurosceptic parties

became their nation's
leading political force,

like the Front National in France,
or UKIP,

the UK independence party,

whose leader, Nigel Farage,

was passionately Europhobic.

I don't just want Britain
to leave the European Union,

I want Europe
to leave the European Union.

I don't believe that flag,
that anthem

and that president,
whose name no one knows,

really represent
what Europe should be.

And then you win.

For the first time
in the EU's history,

a group of extreme right wing MPs

could influence
the European parliament's decisions.

(CROWD CHANTING)

But Eurosceptics in Britain, France,
Austria and the Netherlands

were far too disparate
to form a united front.

The traditional parties
remained in control.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

In 2015,

austerity remained the rule of thumb
throughout the union.

(CARS HONKING)

Romania was staring into the abyss.

Its postal services,
public transport,

its aeronautical
and energy industries,

the whole country was for sale

to try and pay off its debts.

Retirement and wages
were in freefall.

(WHISTLE BLOWING)

(CROWD CHANTING)

While Romania was selling off
its public services,

Greece was allowing
its healthcare system to rot.

(DOG BARKING)

(BABY CRYING)

Many Greeks had no social safety net.

They had to go, cap in hand
to NGO's to get treatment,

or rely on the charity
of those hospitals

that were still open,

they too being short of equipment
and drugs.

Life expectancy in Greece in 2015,
was in decline.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

In the nations of Southern Europe,

a growing number of medical staff
opted to emigrate.

Half of these were from Italy,

which was afflicted
by drastic restrictions.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Lombardy
was the worst affected region.

The lack of health care workers
was critical.

(CAMERAS SHUTTERING)

Saving money on public health

was a strategy
employed by many EU countries.

Budget minister, Eric Woerth,

had been planning this
since the beginning of the crisis

and France
lost over 6,000 hospital beds a year

for ten years.

(BEEPING)

The undisputed
champion of budget cuts was Ireland,

which closed half
of its hospital beds.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

To make matters worse,

social services warned
than one Irish child in five

was in food poverty.

(CHILDREN SCREAMING)

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

It was the UK that was to experience
the worst issues.

The social cost
of seven years of austerity

was horrific.

(CROWD CHANTING)

Many libraries, nurseries

and homeless shelters were closed,

causing ever greater hardship
for society's most vulnerable,

whose numbers kept growing.

Reliance on food banks
doubled each year.

In the eyes of prime minister,
David Cameron,

the onus of responsibility
lay with Europe.

We'll give the British people
a referendum,

with a very simple
in or out choice.

This was a boon
for the UK independence party,

who had been clamouring
to leave the EU for years.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Its leader, Nigel Farage,
led the campaign,

supported by a number
of conservatives,

including the mayor of London,

none other than Boris Johnson.

Thank you for coming,
can you hear me?

Euroscepticism turned to Europhobia.

Forward for victory on 23 June.
Yes, we can.

(BELL CHIMES)

There we are.
It is 10:00,

the polls are closed
across the United Kingdom.

We have made a decision
and there is no going back.

On 23 June, 2016,

the unthinkable happened.

The British people

voted to leave the EU.

Brexit marked the end of an era.

Never before
had Europe been so brittle.

12 years after the collapse
of Lehman Brothers,

the majority
of large European countries

had still not recovered.

Only Germany
was enjoying a resurgence.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

Its pre-crisis dynamism had returned.

But Great Britain, France,
Spain and Italy

were still counting the cost
of the subprime crisis.

It was these same countries

that with the advent
of the Covid-19 pandemic,

blithely opted
against preventative measures.

(CAR HONKING)

In March 2020,

Lombardy,
desperately short of doctors,

became the hot spot
of the health crisis.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Short of hospital beds,

France had to send its sick
to Germany.

Reluctance to open
new areas of expenditure

once again
proved to be the wrong decision.

This misjudgement plunged Europe
into a new abyss of debt.

(SLOW PACED MUSIC)

Well after the initial crash,

the myth endured,

the subprime crisis
was an American creation

and Europe, its innocent victim.

But the evidence was irrefutable,

a lack of cohesion
on the part of its leaders,

delayed decisions,

the choice to rescue the banks
to the detriment of recovery

and the implementation
of overly severe austerity

did no more than deepen the crisis

and prolong its debts.

The story without an end.

Captioned by Ai-Media
ai-media.tv