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The end of the dream: Greece bows to the inevitable
Syriza’s wild election promises bump up against harsh reality as the Eurozone refuses all but cosmetic changes to the bailout deal.
Greece’s attempt to break the shackles of its bailout package has failed. With that, the risk of the Eurozone breaking up has receded, at least until the summer.
The new left-wing government effectively crumpled Friday under pressure from the rest of the currency union and accepted it had to complete the reforms demanded of it two and a half years ago in return for continued access to the only financial lifeline it has. It also promised to honor all its debts and not to reverse any of the reforms undertaken so far under the 2010 and 2012 bailout programs, backing down from its most important pre-election promises.
In return, the creditors agreed to extend by four months the existing deal, meaning that Athens will still get some €3.6 billion from the Eurozone and European Central Bank, and a bit more from the International Monetary Fund this year. They also all but guaranteed to loosen the country’s budget targets, and to keep available nearly €11 billion earmarked for recapitalizing Greek banks if they get into trouble.
http://fortune.com/2015/02/20/the-end-of-the-dream-greece-bows-to-the-inevitable/?xid=yahoo_fortune
12 replies
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Last edited Sat Feb 21, 2015, 10:46 AM - Edit history (2)
and with all the other support they're getting from millions of ordinary people outside Greece, it's just going to take some hard work and a lot of great chess-playing.
Check out some of the comments here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017246087
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'Let Greece Breathe'
By Staff Writers, teleSUR
teleSUR
Sunday, Feb 15, 2015
Greece's new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Syriza, waves as he leaves a polling station in Athens January 25, 2015 | Photo: Reuters
With the left-wing Syriza government not backing down on its electoral mandate to tackle austerity policies, despite ongoing pressure from other European governments, progressive movements across Europe are expressing their solidarity with Greece this weekend.
In Rome, thousands of Italians marched on Saturday calling on the Eurozone to "Give Greece a Chance".
Sunday will see protests in London, Madrid and other European cities demanding "Let Greece breathe" in reference to the call from the new Syriza government for time to renegotiate the conditions of the financial bailout, initiated after the global crisis of 2007. The bailout was accompanied by strict austerity policies blamed for a dramatic collapse in economic growth and living standards.
Huge anti-austerity protest near Colosseum, Rome
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In Germany, whose government has been accused of being the most insistent in maintaining austerity measures, dozens of leading trade unionists have signed a declaration calling Syriza’s victory “an opportunity...for a fundamental reassessment and revision of EU economic and social policy.” The trade unionists explain that “The billions of euros that have flowed into Greece have been used primarily to stabilise the financial sector. At the same time, the country has been driven into deep recession by brutal cutbacks in government spending” creating “a social and humanitarian crisis.”
Full article:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_69384.shtml
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'The Coercion of Greece"
By Mark Weisbrot
Source: Counterpunch
February 20, 2015
The Economist’s February 6 cover displayed the Venus de Milo statue pointing a revolver, with the headline “Go ahead, Angela, make my day.” In the editors’ upside-down world, Greece is threatening Europe, or at least Germany. Really?
On Monday, February 16, European officials “handed Athens an ultimatum: Agree by Friday to continue with a bailout program or risk the funding that the country needs to avoid a default,” the New York Times reported.
Then there is Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister and die-hard supporter of the failed austerity policies that brought Greece six years of depression. On February 11, according to the Financial Times, he “hinted darkly that a Greek plan to leave the bailout at the end of the month could draw a harsh reaction from financial markets.”
On Monday, February 16, European officials “handed Athens an ultimatum: Agree by Friday to continue with a bailout program or risk the funding that the country needs to avoid a default,” the New York Times reported.
Then there is Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister and die-hard supporter of the failed austerity policies that brought Greece six years of depression. On February 11, according to the Financial Times, he “hinted darkly that a Greek plan to leave the bailout at the end of the month could draw a harsh reaction from financial markets.”
Many observers don’t seem to get it, but this is all about the European authorities using coercion to accomplish political as well as economic goals. That’s why these people have not been content to just rely on their enormous bargaining power and the threat of economic dislocation that would ensue if Greece is forced out of the euro. Instead, they have been pro-active: on February 4 the ECB announced that it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral. This was a deliberate effort to crash Greek financial markets and increase capital flight so as to force Syriza to capitulate as soon as possible.
Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-coercion-of-greece/
(Borrowed from DU'er DeSwiss)
He doesn't look like he'd be all that intimidated by their threats, either.
OF CHANGE!
