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tagged: comment, commitments, elections, Finance Minister, Germany, Greece, intervention, interview, new loan agreement, public opinion, Schäuble Griechenland, SWR2, Wolfgang SchaeubleGerman FinMin: Blatant Intervention in Greece’s Democratic Procedures
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy
The boldness of some EU so-called “partners” of Greece has apparently no limits. Just hours before the Eurogroup teleconference on Wednesday evening and after conservative coalition partner Antonis Samaras sent his written commitments to the country’s lenders, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made a blatant intervention in Greece’s democratic procedures. In fact, he denied the Greeks of self-determination and the right to chose their governments through parliamentary elections, fearing .
In an interview to German regional radio SWR2, Schaeuble expressed concerns about how to secure Greece’s commitments after the parliamentary elections most likely to take place in upcoming April.
Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday he was very concerned about how to ensure that Greece stuck to implementing austerity measures it is agreeing with international creditors after likely elections in April.
“When you look at the internal political discussions in Greece and the opinion polls, then you have to ask who will really guarantee after the elections… — and I find this very alarming –… that Greece continues to stand by what we are now agreeing with Greece,” Schaeuble told SWR2 radio.
“I am also not yet sure that all political parties in Greece are aware of their responsibility for the difficult situation their country is in,” Schaeuble said, adding the EU remained committed to helping Greece if it honoured its promises. (Reuters)
Well, that’s one of the risks about democracy: you know only after the elections with whom you have to deal with. A lesson that Greeks have learned by heart in the last five years. It’s time for the Christian-Democrat Finance Minister to learn this lesson too. Unless he would rather cancel any democratic procedures in this country (or) until Greece has paid back its debt.
I bet that conservative Schaeuble would also prefer to keep ex-banker Papademos as a non-elected Prime Minister or even better, to install state commissioner - a life-time German king, maybe, a Schaueble’s cousin from the backest woods of Black Forest?
I don’t want to put down the worst scenario that could be a dreadful dilemma.
Speculations that German conservatives would rather see Greece out of the EU and the euro zone are gaining space. A powerful German manager from BOSCH said yesterday, the Greece should exit the euro and the EU. Will Angela Merkel manage to resist to the calls of her party sirens?
Or could Schaeuble find a way to convince the Greek public opinion? I hardly believe in such an option. On the contrary. Anti-German sentiment is on the rise here in Greece. No wonder.
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In terms of canceling the coming Greek elections, be careful of what you wish for.
Have the AAA rated soverigns decided to thow Greece overborad?
“a group of eurozone governments, particularly those that retain triple-A credit ratings, has lost faith Greece will ever deliver its end of the bargain. Hardline officials in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland are increasingly urging a Greek default.
“We are getting closer to default,” said a senior eurozone official. “Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are losing patience.”
Finance ministers will hold a conference call on Wednesday and reconvene at a scheduled meeting on Monday.
One key reason for the increasing boldness in northern Europe is a growing belief the EU can contain the blowback from a disorderly default, having built up the eurozone’s financial “firewalls” against contagion. Some officials also believe financial markets have priced in a default, meaning any adverse reaction will be limited.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said on Monday the eurozone was “better prepared than two years ago” to deal with a default.
A day earlier, Philipp Roesler, the German economy minister, said such an outcome had “lost much of its horror.” Senior officials from the Netherlands and Luxembourg have made similar statements publicly in recent days.
Although some senior officials dismissed the comments as negotiating tactics, others involved in the discussions warn they should be taken at face value.
“People are really, really contemplating and wondering whether giving the people in Greece [additional funds] is the right thing to do if they can’t implement the programme,” said another senior eurozone official.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7cb53ba0-573a-11e1-869b-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1mT0tsR4f
hanks for the warning and posting. A fund to hold proper elections would be highly appreciated by the Greek people lol
I only know one thing, a friend recently declared personal bankruptcy and his trustee had complete control of his income. He was forced to sell everything of value, house, car etc and cash in his RRSP’s (retirement fund), even cash out his life insurance policy. The funds went to pay the creditors. On his income he was allocated funds for rent, transport, clothes, utilities etc. The surplus went to the creditors. My friend was very upset but also recognized that it was his own fault. For two years until discharge he must live this way. Once he is a discharged bankrupt he won’t get any credit for seven years. Greece for all intends and purposes, is bankrupt.
Cash retirement fund? I bet the friend was not living in Greece. Did he applied for poverty article that protects from creditors?Thanks for the nice story though.
[...] and the loan agreement. Read the controversial excerpt from Schaeuble’s interview in “German FinMin: Blatant intervetion in Greece’s democratic procedures“. AKPC_IDS += "15261,";Popularity: unranked [...]
It really seems that the birthplace of democracy will also be its cemetary.
The way the troika and germany act, is a shame to all the democratic principles they always *love* to impose on others.
We live in times where governments and its politicans (if elected in the first place, hint, hint…) are the paid puppets of a finacial elite whose members arent even emotionally passionate about – or “link” themselves to – the countries (lest their people, needless to say) they origin from. Same goes for their puppets. Because they are NOT american, english, german or even greek citizens anymore. They are citizens of “Elite country”. And thats the only country they are loayal to.
All the suffering, the despair, the hopelessness, the murders (read: suicides as a logical result of their actions) they impose on the greek population and hence should get accounted for – rest assured, they do not care about at all.
One might think that they would call it euphemistically “collateral damage”, but as pervert that euphemism is on its own already, guess what?
Its much worse than that. They call it *just* “damage”.
And “damage” is – good.
“Damage” might mean to YOUR life: smaller wages, more fear, more suffering, more, more and even more pain.
To THEIR life “damage” means: more profit. more power. more control. over …you!
The world is their oyster. And they suck it dry…
What people in, say France or Germany (and perhaps even in Greece) for instance do not understand is that Greece is just the experimental lab of this new finacial dictatorship. How much and how long can they suck you dry before you collapse, revolt or …faint? Without them getting indegestion, of course. Valuable insights can be gained here in the lab by your (re-)actions to produce the perfect remedy for them.
To make a long story short: The roadmap to your enslavery wont stop. Not without your resistance. And it wont refrain to Greece. It is the blueprint of things to come. The same will happen to the (average) people in Spain, in Portugal. In Italy and France. And, you might not believe it – perhaps not tomorrow but definetly – in Germany, too.
What an irony – if it wouldnt be so sad – is this:
The average people in, lets take Germany again, brainwashed by mass media, believe that austerity measures are right. Believe you are crooks they dont want to pay for. Dont know that 81% of “their” money send to “you” takes the back road where it came from. Read in the papers, hear on TV that your wages are higher than theirs. Dont know and never felt what these austerity measures actually *mean* and would to them. Never heard about
EUGENDFOR (but will eventually). Know nothing. Have no clue. But *think* they do.
Wonder why? News and truths of the kind you can read here on KTG, *hardly* exist in german (mass or main) media. But propaganda does. And it is there to stay …Propaganda… does that sound familiar?
Dont let the villains fool you. Because every highly trained villain needs a scapegoat. Sad but (probably true) we might never detain the villains themselves. Only their scapegoats, the puppets whose names we all know too well. Shame on them! Shame on them all!
But our evil villains have a backup plan, you know? Because they learned: Two scapegoats are waaaay better than just one!
Old puppets may go, new ones will come…
But in order to prevent you realizing that and/or to channel your anger, here comes the scapegoat No.2!
Let me present to you scapegoat No.2 Special Edition A:
Thats you! Yeah, right! The average greek people as a whole (minus puppets, that is). But scapegoat No.2 Special Edition A is only meant for: The average german people as a whole (minus the puppets, that is).
Brings us to (scapegoat No.2) Special Edition B:
V.I.C.E. V.E.R.S.A.
Have you (read: the average greek) ever thought about it like that? Or you* over there (*read: the average german)?
United we stand. United we fall. Thats unfortunately very true. Because it is not hard to fall at all, if we start fighting each other because we dont know who the true villain is.
“Great” plans the villains have,dont you think?
Because this way, they can:
- Divert and distract the anger from the puppets they control and whose names we *do* know to…
- …an entity (read: an entire nation’s population) too big to know at all (too many Herr Müller and Frau Schmitz i`d guess)
And the, when the hiddeous plan that protects and serves the villains‘ interests falls into place and spirals out of control (playing the people of one nation against the other), they get an EXTRA bonus.
And do you want to know, what that bonus is (apart from the great “show” they’ll get for free, laughing their heads off over everyone)?
More “damages”, that is.
And you know! “Damages” (not to mention in its purest form – wars) is good! For them only, of course.
More “damages”. What it means to you, I definetely dont need to tell you, and all the other people who dont know, will find out sooner or later by themselves. But at the same time, it means:
More profit.
For them.
More power.
For them.
More control.
For them.
Over us all.
United we stand. United we fall.
Perhaps all we can do is draw a line that is a warning sign: Enough is enough! And crossing that line comes at a price they *may* not want to pay. Thing is: This line has already been crossed…
And… What now?
United we stand. United we fall.
If you, the greeks, fall, we`ll all fall (definetely in europe and perhaps even beyond).
If you can retake (with persistance, not violence) your
-independence
-souveranity
-country
and your…
…pride,
we can keep or even extend ours…
So you, the average greek, may – by the course of your actions – *without knowing*, safe not only yourself, but also in the end even an average german. And it might be quite likely, that he will never ever know that…
Much love.
Much solidarity.
And last but not least.
The most RESPECT i have to offer.
An average german.
I agree with you, Hausfreund – very strongly.
And you have my respect.
Well said and i agree completely. From a Brit l
Married to a Greek living in greece. Thanks for your solidarity. And best wishes to you too
When Germany does not trust that the next Greek government will honor the commitments signed and sealed by it’s predecessors then Germany should not lend Greece any money. It’s as simple as that.
That said, I want to point to this: It is a common rule between democratic states that any legal deal signed by a government is honored by the next one. It’s there because, unlike a dictatorial state, voters are choosing new governments every couple of years and it would become a mess if there would be no certainty what would happen with contracts after the elections. The next one can ask to reopen negotiations but never go back on the deal. By even giving the impression he might do the latter, People like Samaras are undermining the last shred of credibility of Greece as a democratic state. What makes it even worse is that his party is part of the government that signed off this deal. And he even send a signed commitment today. But we all heard his speeches and they are very VERY clear that he wants to renegotiate or else… It is this “or else” what Schauble is pointing at. And rightly so.
But as I said: if this is so, don’t lend Greece any money. And stop wining mr. Schäuble.
Sorry, I fail to see where there is a “blatant intervention in Greece’s democratic procedures”. This is what he said:
“When you look at the internal political discussions in Greece and the opinion polls, then you have to ask who will really guarantee after the elections… — and I find this very alarming –… that Greece continues to stand by what we are now agreeing with Greece,”
Well, that’s a good question. And the simple answer is: Nobody will really guarantee anything. Why should anybody trust the word, even the written word of Samaras or Papandreou? But it is as AntonisX already said: either accept this and shut up, Mr Schäuble, or don’t give any money to Greece. There is no third way.
I agree with both AntonisX and Bogol. The measures signed up to in the first MoU were not adhered to so how can anyone believe that the next will fare any better, and there is a lot more noise being made around this one. No-one should be surprised that people are concerned that any agreement will be honoured now or after any election. All this makes the Greek government, and by association the Greek people, look like fools. If Greece wants to re-earn some respect, even if only self respect, then tell Europe to keep it’s money. It doesn’t take a world class economist to know that, when you are in so much debt that you can’t service it, borrowing more is never the correct move. Greece must cut it’s expenses, which means a lot of pain for the people, but be in control of it yourself. Let all those politicians who speak so eloquently about “national honour” and “political honour” actually start to act on their words. In a crisis like this, with no time for rhetoric, action must be taken. Surely the first, most obvious and simplest move is to collect taxes already owed. But that means from everyone who owes, not just the big businesses. That may give the government a breathing space to plan for the future.
There is, according to Germany’s Wolfgang Schauble.———http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100014963/germany-is-playing-with-greek-fire/……….Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble is entering into ever more dangerous waters.
His apparent demand that Greece postpone elections scheduled for April, and impose a technocrat junta (a l’Italiana) for another year without PASOK and New Democracy, takes your breath away. Is this really the position of the German government? Greek democracy be damned?
[...] attempt by the Germans to accelerate the Greek endgame. Both the Germans and the Greeks seem to be inching toward the realization that they could live with Greece outside of the Eurozone, at least relative to other available alternatives. The simple fact is, real relative wages in [...]
[...] free will of Greek voters come two weeks after German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed similar concerns about the results of next parliamentary elections in Greece and whether they would threaten the loan [...]