Tsipras vs Schaeuble and in the middle the Debt Relief. They will hardly manage to agree.
Speaking at the congress of SYRIZA, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday that the country would demand a debt relief deal from bailout lenders by Christmas.
“We are not coming as beggars or as the poor relative, but with our heads held high and with dignity, as representatives of a people that suffered so much,” Tsipras said Thursday, speaking at a congress of his left-wing Syriza party.
“Telling us to get on with our homework and ‘we’ll see’ is no longer acceptable to us,” Tsipras said. “This delay in specifying measures needed for debt relief … has no, absolutely no, justification.”
On Sunday, he reiterated the same demand saying “we continue to implement the difficult [austerity] agreement and we expect that the lenders implement their commitment as well.” He warned that the debt relief issue is crucial not only for Greece but also for Europe and that one should not wait for the German elections.
On his part, Wolfgang Schaeuble reiterated his mantra that debt relief discussion would not happen before 2018.
Speaking to German daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Schaeuble acknowledged that Greece has made progress, but he warned that the country should not be diverted from the path of reform.
“There will be no debate on the debt relief prior to the completion of the current program in 2018. If we talk about debt relief now, this will weaken the reform disposition of Greece. The problem is not the debt but lies in the inability of the administration and the lack of competitiveness. There should be the beginning,” the German Finance Minister and EU’s highest economic judge….ruled.
Of course, the problem is not the debt – my cat claims she sees happy Greeks picking euro notes form the streets and bring them to the tax offices day in, day out.
PS it’s high time to migrate and return to KTG in …2018.
Alex, this little treacherous creep, once again tries to talk to his SYRIZA partners in crime as if nothing happens. As Tatsiopoulos very pointedly tweeted today, this guy, who makes everybody vote for whatever he wants (no matter what the outcome of the voting), is a God and the best thing he can do is start his own religion.
I would put slightly differently: Wolfgang is the God and Alex is his humble prophet. The Greek parliament is their temple and place of worship.