One day ahead of a key vote in the German Bundestag whether to ratify the 4-month Greek bailout extension, the biggest-selling, mass-market newspaper (or tabloid as some call it) with a circulation of 2.5 million, Bild, has made it very clear just how it feels [6]about the latest Greek can kicking event.
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The campaign hardly needs much explanation: the statement in German written just below the "Nein", and across a blue and white background matching the Greek flag, says "No more billions for greedy Greeks."
As part of its campaign, Bild is encouraging readers to take selfies holding the page up and send them in for publication. As Telegraph reports [8], selfies of readers brandishing the “Nein!” had already begun flooding in on Thursday morning, with many holding it up in their offices or outside their homes.
Lars Riiser, a banker had stuck it to the window of his office on the upper floors of one of Frankrfurt’s skyscrapers, with a view of Germany’s financial capital behind.
Another man, Steffen Beier, brandished it out of the window of his car. Some readers took the selfie holding up iPads showing the headline instead of a newspaper.
As noted above, the publicity stunt comes ahead of a vote that will seek to pass the proposed Greek reforms. Earlier today, it was reported that at least 22 MPs in Merkel's Christian Democrat party are unhappy with the deal, and indicated that they intend to defy the party whip and vote against it. As the Telegraph notes, "there is no chance of the deal being defeated, because Mrs Merkel’s coalition has a huge majority of several hundred, but so many defection from her own party would be a symbolic blow."
And while the topic of endless Greek bailouts is a very sensitive one for Germany, with public opinion polarized whether Greece whould be the receipient of what Germany sees as endless taxpayer funding, at least one entity has so far voiced against the Bild slam, when moments ago the German Association of Journalists called on the "Boulevard media" to stop the campaigneering, arguing that Bild has crossed the line into political campaign by urging readers to pose with their “Nein” poster ahead of tomorrow’s Bundestag vote. The DJV added [9]in the words of the Guardian, that "it is ethically questionable to vilify a whole nation for the fiscal mistakes of their politicians."
Will it make a difference? For now the Bild campaign seems to be achieving its intended goal in the process once again making a mockery of the European "Union"
