The news went worldwide as a serious IMF warning to Greece. IMF’s Christine Lagarde had allegedly told German conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a Greek exit from the eurozone was a “possibility.”
F.A.Z. wrote a nice title on her interview with Lagarde and spread the news.
“Schuldenkrise Lagarde hält Grexit für möglich“
“Debt Crisis: Lagarde considers Grexit as possible”
But Christine Lagarde had not said that. She had said instead:
“Niemand wünscht den Europäern einen Grexit”
“No one wishes a Grexit to Europeans”
I suppose the IMF and/or Lagarde complained to the F.A.Z. that a few hours later changed its title to:
“Schuldenkrise Lagarde schließt Grexit nicht aus”
“Debt crisis Lagarde does not preclude Grexit”
Excerpt by the F.A.Z article:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressly does not longer exclude a Greek exit from the euro area “Nobody wishes a Grexit to Europeans“ the Executive Director of the Fund, Christine Lagarde said in an interview with this newspaper on the edge of the G–7 finance ministers meeting in Dresden. The negotiations were not a walk, but the IMF is not naive.
“It is very unlikely that we will reach a comprehensive solution in the next few days, “Lagarde said. After there had been positive signals from Athens ten days ago, “we were sobered again in the past week.” Its is “a vast field to plow.”
Lagarde made it clear that she does not see any responsibility of the IMF with regards of the stay of Greece in the eurozone. If the Europeans wanted to avoid a looming state bankruptcy in the coming weeks , they would take their own precautions . If the conditions are met , the euro countries and the ECB could ” give a little breathing space ” to Greeks.
FAZ Newspaper has removed Lagarde Quote on #Grexit. http://t.co/K3VqqesyWQ #IMF pic.twitter.com/1HhzIHLWjj
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) May 28, 2015
British The Guardian quoted also Lagarde’s interview to F.A.Z. as follows:
Grexit is a possibility, warns head of IMF
Christine Lagarde says deal with Athens is unlikely in next few days, after Greece’s lead negotiator claimed high-level intervention was needed in talksThe head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that a Greek exit from the eurozone is a “possibility” as debt talks reach a critical stage.
Christine Lagarde said a deal with Athens was unlikely to be reached over the next few days, as the indebted country strives to meet a 5 June deadline for a €305m (£218m) payment to the IMF. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the IMF managing director said: “A Greek exit is a possibility.”
Lagarde added that such a step would “not be a walk in the park”, but would “probably not” mean the end of the euro.
While German F.A.Z. was trying to delete the traces of misleading information, the IMF in Washington was announcing that it was considering the possibility that Greece could “bundle” its four June payment tranches to the IMF.
IMF spokesman Murray: #Greece has right to “bundle” repayments within given month. Last country to do so was Zambia pic.twitter.com/qiRQoMDJuE
— Derek Gatopoulos (@dgatopoulos) May 28, 2015
UPDATE:
Citing statements by IMF’s spokesman Gerry Rice, Italian media report
that the IMF denied the F.A.Z. due to “inaccurate translation.”F.A.Z’s “statement attributed to Lagarde is not accurate, there are false reports” Rice reportedly said adding “there were problems with the translation of the interview.”
BTW: Some people on Twitter interpreted Lagarde’s statement as a warning to Europeans to avoid a “Grexit” at any case.
The Syriza propaganda is getting ridiculous: splitting hair about ruling out a Grexit.
How – right in his mind – can rule out a Grexit these days?
You, KTG?
Apropos misleading information: “We are in the final stage and only days from an agreement” – since months…
In addition to unfulfillable promises (which were the basis of Syriza’s election), this is an incredibly blunt lie straight into the face of the Greek voters.
With no effect. KTG prefers philosophy about semantics over cleaning house with corruption in their backyard.
All these spin doctor game theory shit, the two faced nature of the Greek prime minister and the alleged public support of this farce costs the Greek people its most valuable asset: the sympathy and the trust of the vast majority in Europe.
Corruption starts as soon as you systematically breach the rules for a “good reason”, ecause this will never find an end.
Look at you, KTG – how much of your blogging is truth and how much is Syriza propaganda?
Compare Greek media (a billion unreflected “we are close” headlines, incl. KTG) and the media in the rest of the world (“we are far apart”). – Who is right? Who is demonizing tne very ones that are supposed to help?
Want to contribute to get Greece out of corruption? – Then stay with the truth, KTG, and don’t let anybody get away with lame excuses for corruption, lies, unfulfillable promises and as a result – stagnation.
I am updating the post with IMF’s spokesman statement that “FAZ was lost in translation” – politely said.
You should understand Greek media first before having any opinion about it but I guess this will not be possible as you won’t find any translator.
Supporting the lies of the goebbels-media looks more like corruption than stupidity but anyway the next weeks everyone will find oneselves on totally different frontlines, as all these by pricks mentioned brave, all so supportive East European countries that joint the EU 25 years later are refusing to help refugees.
Dirty Games, not error. What else after 6 years of the same old nonsense.
What a load of crap Chris.
You have convenienly forgotten the corruption on of the previous governments and the corruption in Siemans and place it all on Syriza.
Lets take stock of reality.
Syriza has taken action on the Le Garde list that was dodge by the previous lot.
Keeping reading whatever it is, the Bilt, the Sun or the Daily Mail and you will be happy in your reinforced prejudices.
Bribes are first demanded then paid and in Greece it was a well known government practice over decades.
Do you understand why a corrupt government is the bigger problem than a corrupt company? Likely not.
After, all, “Fakelaki” is. an internationally well known Greek word, not a German one.
2 billion Euro demanded? Hahaha, did you pay that much or was it too much?
That’s the typical mouthpiece “argument” of the worldchamps in bribery that corruption is not corruption but competition – as until a few years ago it was also legal – usually followed by “our justice works” but German bribes were paid to sell too expensive bullshit, to avoid competition; “fakelaki” is wrong used by media as in it doesn’t fit real amounts, in the rich bastard world fakelaki is only used too pay prostitutes.
No more a stable union
If for the first time a country leaves the eurozone, then it won’t be the same stable monetary union as before, governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda told the German business daily Handelsblatt.
By logic, a chain is usually getting stronger when you remove its weakest links.
Not on my bike, I’ve tried it, now the drive-train is blocked
I suppose, then, that the human species will profit from your demise. Make sure that you don’t have any children, please.
I would think twice when “logic” is taking off the livelyhood from millions of people. Greek government struggle against the bankers is growing hope all over Europe and elsewhere, as was the case of Iceland some years ago. It’s time to force the ones who made irresponsible decisions without any transparency to pay off the consequences.
Bankers should not be treated as legally unaccountable, like kids.
Who took out this loan and in whose name? Who granted the loan and what was their role? How did the state become involved? By what decision, taken with what authorisation? How did private debts become ‘public’? Who set up such inappropriate schemes, who pushed in this direction, who profited from them? Were offences or crimes committed with this money? Why has penal civil, criminal and administrative responsibility not been established?
Commission on Greek Public Debt
The German propaganda machinery continues with its disinformation, lies and half-truths. Anyone would think that the Germans had invented propaganda — oh wait! so they did! how could we ever forget the delightful Goebbels, not to mention the cheerful humanitarian called Adolf somthing? What was his name, was it something like Schaeuble?
Syriza’s last resort, driving a wedge between Germany and Europe over Nazi allegations, did not work out so well. Instead, they unified Europe against Greece.
If the original sin / WW2 is the left wing radicals best shot, they have reached rock bottom.
Keep on throwing with dirt, Xenos – this ensures that the rest of Europe to better understand who they are dealing with.
Most of the population of Europe knows that we are dealing with a political mafia across Europe, backed by right wing press to manipulate the public. The eurozone crisis was caused by France and Germany, who seek to blame the victims of their own greed and incompetence — countries such as Greece and Portugal.
The history of Germany is very relevant, for it constitutes the culture of Germany. This time around, the domination of Europe is not through military aggression but economic aggression and power. People are slowly waking up to the hard facts, of how the continent has lost democratic legitimacy. Hitler would be proud of Germany today.
Oh, by the way, don’t forget to repeat your ritualistic denial of being a German. It’s so obviously a lie, it is very amusing.
Propaganda
The days and weeks that followed [the Eurogroup meeting 24th of April] were dominated by these false stories which almost everyone assumed to be accurate reports. The public, under that wall of disinformation, became convinced that, during the 24th April Riga Eurogroup meeting, my fellow ministers called me insulting names (“time waster”, “gambler”, “amateur” etc. were some of the reported insults), that I lost my temper, and that, as a result, my Prime Minister later “sidelined” me from the negotiations.
…
All of a sudden, the journalists and news media that propagated the lies and the innuendos about the 24th April Eurogroup meeting changed tack. Without a whiff of an apology for the torrent of untruths they had peddled against me for weeks, they now began to depict me as a ‘spoof’ who had “betrayed” the confidentiality of the Eurogroup.
Yanis Varoufakis, May 24, 2015
Have you ever listened to Lagarde give a talk ?
Las week I listened to 2 women who were invited to speak together on global matters. One of these women was Lagarde.
I then found another talk given by Lagarde just to see if I was not mistaken.
She talks gobbeldygook – both talks were nonsence, this is the head of the International Monetery Fund & her speech content & capacity to deliver that diologue is lee than that of a 5 year old child.
I repeate this woman is head of the IMF … for God’s sake.
The intellectual bar must be set very low at the IMF.