Original subtitles

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