Mr Josh 3 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The amount of misinformation about the new Greek government being spread by the world’s media beggars belief. On Friday, Greek financial minister Yanis Varoufakis supposedly refused to cooperate with the “Troika†of IMF , ECB and European Commission. What he actually did was refuse to cooperate with the overseers put in place by those three institutions to enforce their austerity program, which is progressively destroying the Greek economy. Also on Friday, the Greek government’s refusal to accept further bailout loans was widely interpreted as an intention to default on its debts. This is an unwarranted assumption. Greece does not want to accept more bailout loans, because they are counterproductive for an insolvent country. But it wants to renegotiate its debts, not default on them. Now we are told that Syriza is backtracking on its “initial defianceâ€. In an exclusive, Bloomberg reported that Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, had sent an email in which he committed Greece to paying its debts to the IMF and ECB: Greece will repay its debts to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund and reach a deal “soon†with the euro-area nations that funded most of the country’s financial rescue, Tsipras said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg News on Saturday. “The deliberation with our European partners has just begun,†Tsipras said. “Despite the fact that there are differences in perspective, I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole.†The world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Syriza had seen the error of its ways, the Troika had regained the upper hand and all was well with the world. But this is a completely misleading interpretation of Tsipras’s email. The full text is here (via Yannis Koutsomitis: The deliberation with our European partners has just begun. Despite the fact that there are differences in perspective, I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole. No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on Greek debt. My obligation to respect the clear mandate of the Greek people with respect to ending the policies of austerity and returning to a growth agenda, in no way entails that we will not fulfill our loan obligations to the ECB or the IMF. On the contrary, it means that we need time to breathe and create our own medium-term recovery program, which amongst other things will incorporate the targets of primary balanced budgets and radical reforms to address the issues of tax evasion, corruption and clientelistic policies. I am convinced that an agreement on these lines will be acceptable to our partners, because our common interest is the economic stability and recovery for our common home, Europe. This doesn’t look much like capitulation to me. In focusing only on his commitment to meet IMF and ECB loan obligations (though interestingly not loan obligations to other EU governments), Bloomberg completely missed Tsipras’ main message. Tsipras actually called for the Eurozone governments and institutions to support his party’s policies. Bloomberg’s misleading reporting led Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, never the sharpest knife in the drawer, to rejoice: Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the euro area finance ministers’ group, said he welcomed the prime minister’s comments. Their divisions had been laid bare during a meeting in Athens on Friday. “It is now up to the Greek government to determine its position on how to move forward,†Dijsselbloem said in a text message. “Further decisions will be taken jointly in the Eurogroup in the coming weeks.†He couldn’t be more wrong. Syriza’s position can be summarized as follows: • Greece has no intention of leaving the Euro or the EU. (But others might force it out) • Greece has no intention of defaulting on its debts to primary official creditors. (But others might force it to) • Greece is committed to pursuing policies that promote the economic stability and recovery of Europe. (But others might not be) Far from the ball in being in the Greek government’s court as Dijsselbloem suggests, Tsipras’s request for support sends it firmly back over the net. It is now essential that the other European governments – and EU institutions – demonstrate the same commitment to the future of Europe that Syriza has given in this email. Refusal to consider debt restructuring and demands for Troika “reforms†to continue despite their devastating economic effects do nothing whatsoever to foster European unity. And actions that would result in Greek default and exit actively undermine it. The future not only of the Euro but of the European Union itself depends on the willingness of European governments and institutions to negotiate a New Deal for Greece and other distressed nations. Over to you, EU. Source Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
artpopmess 369 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Greece is a hot mess and i love it i feel like my country completely represents my self being don't follow my instagram (trying out reverse psychology) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didymus 34,380 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Very interesting read. I don't have a flashy opinion about this or something, but I'm glad I understand it a bit more. "On the contrary, it means that we need time to breathe and create our own medium-term recovery program, which amongst other things will incorporate the targets of primary balanced budgets and radical reforms to address the issues of tax evasion, corruption and clientelistic policies." I like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azor Ahai 18,861 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 "Lazy Greeks have fun with our hard-worked money , they should suffer" How I think the GP in Central Europe is right now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Only solution is a federal europe"Lazy Greeks have fun with our hard-worked money , they should suffer" How I think the GP in Central Europe is right now. Well then, my dear, you hold huge prejudices because the majority of centrals have sympathy with Greeks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didymus 34,380 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 "Lazy Greeks have fun with our hard-worked money , they should suffer" How I think the GP in Central Europe is right now. It's really off-putting how vicious people are being. It's really fascinating to me how suddenly people I know don't care one bit about politics are equating themselves to Europe ("we help them and now they don't want to repay us") and making grand statements without really knowing what they're talking about. Scary tendency tbh. And very annoying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 It's really off-putting how vicious people are being. It's really fascinating to me how suddenly people I know don't care one bit about politics are equating themselves to Europe ("we help them and now they don't want to repay us") and making grand statements without really knowing what they're talking about. Scary tendency tbh. And very annoying. I hope you also mean it vice versa how some southerners think about centrals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didymus 34,380 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I hope you also mean it vice versa how some southerners think about centrals Well, no, because that's 100% off-topic It's not relevant to his or my point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melech 9,900 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Well, no, because that's 100% off-topic It's not relevant to his or my point. Okay, then you think it's okay to call us nazis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didymus 34,380 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Okay, then you think it's okay to call us nazis I don't get it.. Of course I don't but that's not discussed right now so why should I comment on it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valextra 58 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 It's really off-putting how vicious people are being. It's really fascinating to me how suddenly people I know don't care one bit about politics are equating themselves to Europe ("we help them and now they don't want to repay us") and making grand statements without really knowing what they're talking about. Scary tendency tbh. And very annoying. Basically it's what happened most of the time in this section when it comes about these kind of arguments. They are too much complicated issues to be discussed so easily poiting the finger at someone, we can only give a superficial judgement from what the media is reporting without being sure of what things really are. In those economical things there are so many secret messes in the behind that we don't have any idea of how really things are, starting with the banks... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didymus 34,380 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Basically it's what happened most of the time in this section when it comes about these kind of arguments. They are too much complicated issues to be discussed so easily poiting the finger at someone, we can only give a superficial judgement from what the media is reporting without being sure of what things really are. In those economical things there are so many secret messes in the behind that we don't have any idea of how really things are, starting with the banks... Agree 100%. Doesn't mean we can't discuss things but at least with the conscious awareness that we basically don't know what we're talking about lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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