Francisco Franco

Now this is how to ask for a bailout -- The head of the European Commission, who is Portuguese, has warned that crisis-hit Eurozone nations could fall into the thrall of new dictators if social tensions explode.

Daily Mail:

In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.

Don't forget that Greece, Spain, and Portugal have only been democracies since the 1970's. What if people decide that democracy just isn't working?

Mr Monks, now head of the European TUC, said: ‘I had a discussion with Barroso last Friday about what can be done for Greece, Spain, Portugal and the rest and his message was blunt: “Look, if they do not carry out these austerity packages, these countries could virtually disappear in the way that we know them as democracies. They've got no choice, this is it.”

...

In an interview with the Brussels-based magazine EU Observer he said: ‘This is extremely dangerous. 'This is 1931, we're heading back to the 1930s, with the Great Depression and we ended up with militarist dictatorship. ‘I'm not saying we're there yet, but it's potentially very serious, not just economically, but politically as well.’