One more Eurogroup, one more… nothing. The usual film with the same actors each and every month. Τhe same pressure on Greece: full compliance or lay down and peg out. The self-congratulatory conservative Eurozone conclave tell the hungry: Athens would get no more aid until it agreed a complete economic reform plan. Where “reforms” mean “cuts”, “cuts” and even more “cuts”. Tighten the belt till the breath is out.
The unbelievable happened: the EU chiefs branded Greek finance minister ‘a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur‘ amid warnings that Grexit is now a ‘serious option’. I hear that Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem could barely contain his anger at the failure by Athens to deliver the economic reforms required to secure further emergency funding to keep Greece afloat.
He reportedly said: ‘A comprehensive and detailed list of reforms is needed. We are all aware that time is running out. Too much time has been lost. The responsibility lies mainly on the side of the Greek authorities.”
According to Bloomberg, finance chiefs at the Eurogroup meeting in Riga said Varoufakis’s handling of the situation was ‘irresponsible’ and accused him of being ‘a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur’. If Greece does not sign up to painful reforms in order to secure fresh funding, it may not be able to repay the IMF the €720million it owes next month. Failure to repay the money would lead to default – and could force Greece out of the euro. (ThisIsMoney.co.uk)
In polished chairs and shiny conference tables the well-paid eurozone finance ministers play with Greek’s nerves.
And then there is the real life in Greece. In public hospitals, for example. Where relatives of patients have to bring their own bedsheets, pillow cushions, towels, toilet papers and all what a freshly operated patient need to maintain a minimum on hygiene. And there there is one nurse and one doctor in the afternoon and night shifts for 60 to 120 people. And there there are patients without families or relatives and no financial means to hire a private nurse. And there they are, bed-ridden, helpless and confused, waiting to be bathed, have their diapers changed and be fed.
And there are the desperate relatives, exhausted physically and economically trying to provide some basic care to their loved ones.
I saw a woman crying in the balcony, saying she had spent 1,000 euro on private nurses and equipment and this and that in order provide care for her mother who had a broken bone operation. 1,000 euro in a week. The 87-year-old had to spend one more week in the hospital, the daughter was already economically broke.
A doctor told me that they have been eagerly waiting for the bailout tranche, so that the government would hire medical and healthcare personnel. “It’s not the government promises that matter. The main issue is that we have real and actual problems here, shortage in personnel and material. Problems that have to be solved as soon as possible.”
PS I have to keep in mind and brief the good doc and the patients’ daughter that Dijsselbloem is angry because Greece does not have enough austerity according to EU standards…
Varoufakis it is an amateur. Is Europe fault?
Professional: one who approves austerity cuts
Amateur: one who resists austerity cuts
agree with you, Elena. But he is not the only one! Look at all the other ghosts. What have they done for the people of Greece since they are on the rudder ??? Close to NOTHING I think. It is really dramatic for the people of Greece. And SYRIZA isn´t better than the government of the past ( in my mind ). You must realise this everyday. It´s a shame.
How come Elena?
who tells you so,that Varoufakis is an amateur?
read the following article and comments if you wish.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/greece-debt-deal-by-yanis-varoufakis-2015-04
And Djiesselbloem is a “professional”?
ha! isn;t he as agricultural farmer or osmething ? 🙂
hahahahaha
ok, here you go
Jeroen Dijsselbloem CV
1985: Secondary school, Eindhoven
1985-1991: Degree in agricultural economics, Wageningen University (majors: business economics, agricultural policy and social and economic history)
1991: Business economics research towards a master’s degree, University College Cork, Ireland
the last point is the very interesting one. “Towards a master’s degree”, which he never managed to get…
here’s the Varoufakis CV, all 13 pages of it. https://varoufakis.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/yvs-english-cv-2013.pdf
now, who’s the amateur here? The only reason Dijsselbloem is where he is, is because he’s a muppet who makes sure he kisses both cheeks before his master pulls his pants up again…
That’s not the point – an education doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get it/ the bigger picture & Varoufakis does not get it – but not from the perspective of this guy.
Mr. Mustard Bloem is a heavy gambler & a known lay about & sponge himself.
Ask around on social media, somewhere there a pix of him at the casinos of Europe & Dubai.
Ms. Lagarde is also considered a dedicated sponge, it is said, “if you see her coming run.”
As I recall, the press office of Dijsselbloem put on his biography that he had a Masters degree from UCC, and were forced to apologise for “a clerical error” and correct it.
These people are all frauds, and Varoufakis is not. That is why they hate him.
Time to leave now and show that we can succeed without these unelected meglomaniacs
There are countries where nobody or only few people can go to a public hospital. Greece is still a relatively rich country, although – of course – it fell down very much. It has more sense to visit Africa or parts of Asia to see real poverty.
I like this Samaras’ saying : Describing the government as “sorcerers’ apprentices,” Samaras said they had managed to “bring back the Grexit specter within three months.”
Isn’t it amazing : to do so much in 3 months ? And now the money of the public hospitals went to … government accounts with the amazing new law 🙂 (if I understand well the new law). What when the government spends this money and still no money comes from the EU ? How will the hospitals and local governments function ?
greece is a ‘rich’ country?
a country in which thousands and thousands of people were forced to emigrate to foreign lands in order to survive all through the 20th century?
with one exception: the decades of the 90s and 00’s – when, thanks to easy credit – greece was able to delude itself and actually they were now a ‘wealthy european partner’ just like germany or france.
no my friend…greece went from the donkey (kyr menios) to the bmw in one generation – and it was a house with a paper foundation…
question now is – how to deal with this situation? keep taking handouts (which are increasingly difficult to get) or begin the process of rebuilding the country?
Dijsslbloem this and Dijsselbloem that. Still pointing to everybody else. Lets see what Greece is doing at this moment. Are there really serious structural reforms like other countries do? Is the pension age raised till 67 and up? No. So don’t point to other countries. Who is actually paying the pensions and civel servants salaries? The middle class of the Greek populations (and they get poorer everyday), IMF, the financial markets and the EU pay. If the EU pays, it pays for the return of money to the financial markets. And the EU has to pay everytime again because Greece is spending to much. So structural reforms are needed. Lower the cost and spend what you have not what you can borrow.
sure, they can make further cuts and lower cost in health care right?
Unbeliveblehe… U Know what is the pension age in Germany? U know how mutch money is the ECB spending in QE and giving it to the Banks? U know that most of the Greek debt came from German and French Banks? U know that much of that debt was to buy services and goods made i Germany and France? U know that the current government is actually trying to pay its debt (I am againts that, I think they should stop paying period…)? The issue is not that Greeks don´t want reforms or to pay the debt, the issue is that the EU and the Banks want to keep Greece and the rest of the south European countries in debt so that they can force them to implement all the policies they want, which includes lowering the level of life by several levels and expelling most of the young people that onle have one choice emigrate.
I just hope the Greek government does not bow down and actually starts acting harder! Like stop paying the debt to the bloodsuckers of IMF and ECB.
Dear Dutch Citizen- Are you aware that the actual average effective retirement age for Greek men is 61.9 years old? For women, it is 60.3 years old. In the Netherlands, it is 63.6 and 62.3. Your people work no more than 2 years longer than Greeks before retiring. Where does your 67 come from? The figures I gave are based on actual retirement ages as reported by OECD.
–
While we are comparing countries, OECD reports that in 2013, the average Dutch worker worked 1380 hours per year, while the average Greek worked 2037 hours per year. Why rush for retirement when you hardly spend any time at work?
Perastika, ktg! We were beginning to worry….
thanks a lot. it’s no me, but family member.
The real problem, KTG, is that the current Greek government does not smile and nod at outlandish lender demands and economic fantasies, but actually poses serious economic questions, which amateur economists such as Diesel-Bloomers and Wolfie cannot answer.
all Dieselbloom and Wolfie want is SYriza out of the government. therefore the stuborness
correct. And before any other elections take place in Europe. Others might get the wrong idea and also start thinking there could in fact be real light at the end of the tunnel, other than the oncoming, all destructive, austerity train. And where would that leave the mandarins in Brussesl and Frankfurt, if other they countries they toy with at will suddenly start saying “‘Οχι”… btw. again, strength for you and your family member.