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’Corrupt banking system runs Europe’

08 October 2010 03:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. European governments’ inclination to apply austerity cuts in tackling budget deficits is due to a â€œcorrupt banking systemâ€ in Europe, an economic expert says, APA reports quoting Press TV.

â€œThe European governments ... all say they have no alternative. That is because they are completely controlled by a corrupt banking system which always wants to lend money at interest if it can,â€ Rodney Shakespeare, professor of binary economics in London, told Press TV.

Recommending a way out of the present economic situation, Shakespeare said that the people of Europe should â€œdemand that the European Bank provide interest-free loans for the purposes of the public capital projects of Greece.â€

â€œThe people of Europe must ... demand that they start to get interest-free loans from their national banks for the big public capital spending; and at the same time, that will cap the national debt because you can use the same mechanism to actually get rid of the national debt,â€ Shakespeare added.

On Thursday, in protest to the country’s austerity program, Greek civil servants started a 24-hour strike during which state offices, schools and universities were shut down and hospitals were running only on emergency staff.

Air traffic controllers also joined the protests, which led to the cancellation or rescheduling of many domestic and international flights.

On October 4, the Greek government unveiled the 2011 draft budget which included 9.2 billion euros of deficit-reduction measures, which is equal to almost 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).