In the News

[Faliro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGwxH_tTm7k


True but Greece is actually running a surplus atm. Meaning if Greece had no debt, the Government would be making money, no losing it.

So what is crippling Greece is the debt repayment. Now interestingly,  Yanis Varoufakis, the finance minister has said Syriza wants to pay back the private the investors but it seems he is not so interested in paying back the Eurozone - to which Greece owes 60% of its debt.

Here is a great article on the dynamics:

http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/tsipras-reverse-shock-doctrine/3155

[pcssousa]

Portugal, like everybody knows, is also facing major financial problems. Some years ago the EU decided that we should forgive half the Greek debt. Half the money we had invest in Greek debt titles was gone...
I realize the EU made the right decision, but has you can see, you guys have less reasons to complain than you think.

[Faliro]

Well there are a few points concerning the Greeks.

1/ In the 1980s Greece applied for grants to be given to its industrial sector (Greece used to build a few cars, tractors, motrobikes, tanks etc). Germany refused only willing to fund Greece's agricultural sector... meaning Greece would for ever be a weak economy based on farming and tourism.

2/ Greece's debt has mushroomed since it was told to start borrowing by the EU to pay off its original debt. This is the vicious cycle Syriza describe. The EU saw Greece's debt as a chance to make money through banking. If they had seen it as problem that needed curing they would have simply given 0 interest loans and forced Greece to re-organise its infrastructure.

3/ It suits Germany to have a two tier Europe. A Europe that builds cars, controls the financial sector and controls the EU policies on everything from relations with Russia to banking and.... A Europe of Tapas and holidays - that grows nice tomatoes and olive oil. Syriza are real leftists. They want to be treated equally. Greece's original debts were totally self-inflicted, however the massive current debts and destruction of Greece's economy was an idea born in Germany.

[Faliro]

Greece must take bitter pill like Portugal, economy minister says

 
By Axel Bugge & Sergio Goncalves

Portugal went through years of tough austerity which is now bearing fruit and Greece too must abide by its commitments to its single currency partners and creditors, Portugal's economy minister told the Reuters Euro Zone Summit.

Antonio Pires de Lima ruled out any kind of debt renegotiation for Greece, saying Athens had to play by the rules of the game established by euro members, especially considering the sacrifices made by fellow bailout country Portugal.

Greece's debt crisis flared again this month after the new leftist-led government said it would roll back reforms imposed under its bailout and cease cooperation with the troika of international lenders after years of harsh austerity. That has put it on a collision course with its creditors.

Pires de Lima said that since Lisbon had opted for a route "which was not the easiest one" to recover credibility and return to growth, "that is also our attitude to the situation in other countries.

"Portugal did everything that was necessary to remove the atmosphere of suspicion surrounding the country, removing all the shadows, all the clouds, all the doubts," he said in an interview late on Thursday.

At the height of Europe's debt crisis, many analysts compared Portugal to Greece, suggesting the country would not stomach the pain of deep spending cuts, the biggest tax hikes in living memory and the sharpest recession since the 1970s.

However, Portugal exited its three-year 78-billion-euro bailout from the euro zone and IMF last year, when its economy also grew for the first time since the crisis started in 2010.

A center-right government under Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho enacted deep spending cuts, economic reforms and extensive privatizations without flinching. It was helped by the low level of protests and strikes, which set the Portuguese apart from countries like Greece and neighboring Spain.

Portugal must hold a general election by October and far-left parties inspired by Greece's Syriza or Spain's Podemos are barely making any inroads into support for the traditional center-right and center-left parties in opinion polls.

Pires de Lima said the economy was rebounding and he would not be surprised if growth reached 2 percent this year. The government's official forecast is 1.5 percent and the European Commission raised its estimate this week to 1.6 percent growth.

Declining oil prices and the European Central Bank's decision to buy government bonds on a large scale with printed money, which should boost liquidity in the economy, would both help spur growth this year, the minister said.

Investors who put their money into Portuguese government bonds "two years ago or last year have had very good returns," he said. Yields have slumped in that time as investors bet on the country's recovery from its bailout.

But the minister said Portugal was now entering a phase when it needs investors for its companies. "Portugal really needs capital to sustain the investment and growth strategies of its companies, especially middle- and small-size firms," he said.

The recovery so far has been driven by strong growth in exports and returning consumer demand.

Pires de Lima said he was not concerned about any potential contagion from Greece to Portugal, pointing to Lisbon's bond yields which are now trading near record lows.

"The project of the single currency is not at risk," he said. "At the end of the day, Greece is master of its own destiny."[Reuters]

[Faliro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w93nofQHnX0

[pcssousa]

Syriza didn't keep his promises just like I thought it would happen.
As I said, the story is a sad one told many times...

[Faliro]

What is spectacular is Glezos - a much much respected Greek (the one who tore down the swastika flag from the Acropolis in 1941!!) and member of Syriza, apologized to Greece for tricking them.. he said Syriza have fooled the Greek people with an illusion.



I Apologize to the Greek People for Collaborating in This Illusion
Manolis Glezos  Member of the European Parliament for Syriza
Posted: 02/24/2015 11:33 am EST Updated: 02/24/2015 11:59 am EST

BRUSSELS -- The fact that the Troika has been renamed "the Institutions," the Memorandum has been renamed the "Agreement" and the creditors have been renamed the "partners" -- in the same manner as renaming meat as fish -- does not change the previous situation.

You can't change the vote of the Greek people in the election of Jan. 25.

The Greek people voted for what Syriza promised: that we abolish the regime of austerity, which is the strategy not only of the oligarchies of Germany and the other creditor countries but also of the Greek oligarchy; that we abrogate the Memorandum and the Troika and all the austerity legislation; that the next day, with one law, we abolish the Troika and its consequences.

A month has passed and this promise has yet to become action.

It is a pity indeed.

From my part, I apologize to the Greek people for having assisted in this illusion.

Before we continue in the wrong direction, before it's too late, let's react.

Above all, the members, the friends and supporters of Syriza, in urgent meetings at all levels of the organization, have to decide if they accept this situation.

Some people say that in an agreement you also have to make some concessions. But as a matter of principle, between the oppressor and the oppressed there can be no compromise, as there can be no compromise between the slave and the tyrant. Freedom is the only solution.

But even if we accept this absurdity, the concessions that have already been made by the previous pro-Memoranda governments, bringing unemployment, austerity, poverty and suicides, have taken this country beyond the limits of retreat.

Manolis Glezos is a member of the European Parliament for Syriza.