Greek Finance Minister has been sidelined, Brussels and international media cheer. The pressure against Yanis Varoufakis has increased during the last days especially during the Eurogroup meeting in Riga, with the EU political world to have launched a Blitzkrieg the Greek Finance Minister. Finance chiefs at the Eurogroup meeting in Riga called Varoufakis’s handling of the situation ‘irresponsible’ and accused him of being ‘a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur’. These descriptions were the peak of the Eurogroup Blitzkrieg against Varoufakis whose relaxed style was seen as a challenge and provocation to the stiff-lipped men in black and dark grey.
As if Varoufakis has not negotiating in coordination with the Greek Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras apparently saw himself obliged to obey to creditors’ demands and reshuffled his team negotiating the bailout with the country’s creditors. He sidelined Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. In a non-paper issued on Monday, the Prime Ministry announced the upgrade of Alternate Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos to lead the team.
Sources in the European Commission declared “satisfied” with the reshuffle in Greek negotiating team.
EU Commission spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt said Tuesday that the pace of talks “have intensified” since a weekend meeting of eurozone finance minister, where Greek minister Yanis Varoufakis came under intense pressure from his colleagues.
She refused to elaborate on reports of the sidelining of Varoufakis as the prime contact in the bailout talks beyond saying ministers were happy to talk to any Greek representative, “as long as they have a mandate to negotiate.”
EU Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, was in the same wave length saying on Varoufakis: “He is a smart person, not always easy, but smart. We can find a common language and, in any case, that is what I wish.”
Luis de Guindos, the Spanish finance minister, even broke protocol by talking to Bloomberg about the events of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday:
“All the ministers told him: this can’t go on,” Spain’s Luis de Guindos said the following day. “The feeling among the 18 was exactly the same. There was no kind of divergence.” The others who provided an account of the meeting in interviews asked not to be named, citing the privacy of the talks. (via BusinessInsider.com)
You can download my comments under
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275351007_Can_Greece_Overcome_the_Current_Crisis_and_Stay_in_the_Euro_Zone_Yes_They_Can__Provided_that_They_Really_Will!
Hans-Georg Petersen
I do not find it appropriate that an academic paper should use anecdotal evidence (such as a taxi-driver’s comments about the euro) and ignore OECD reports such as the very high extent of “reforms” in Greece. You also fail to identify the nature of the reforms that you think are required (probably because you are not familiar with the Greek economy) and contrast them with (a) the Troika demands and (b) the actual reforms or policies carried out by the last governments of Greece.
As far as I am concerned, and I wrote my thesis on the Greek economy in 1989, based on research there in 1988, and actually lived in Greece 1998-2014, the situation is the following estimates:
% of possible structural economic reforms that would benefit Greece, and demanded by the Troika in specific policies: 20-30%
% of reforms demanded by the Troika that might benefit Greece: 20%
% of reforms demanded by the Troika that would be expected to damage Greece: 80%
% of reforms demanded by the Troika that Greece carried out: 60-70%
If my estimates are correct, then you can see the following would be true:
(1) The reforms needed for the Greek economy were mostly not identified by the Troika
(2) The reforms demanded by the Troika were mostly damaging rather than beneficial to the economy
(3) The reforms actually carried out were a high proportion of what the Troika demanded.
Perhaps you would care to rethink your unsubstantiated claim (similar to EU politicians’ claims) that the problem is with Greece not obeying the instructions of the Troika.
Xenos
Sadly, virtually all of the unique aspects of the Greek economy that the Troika ignored can be found in a large series of European Parliament Research Papers dating as far back as the mid 1990s. But then, as has been said over and over, the key players driving the “reform measures” are not trained nor experienced economists, but life long politicians. Extrapolating Diesel-Bloomers’ “research” into Irish dairy farm coops out to being competent to manage diverse economies is just ludicrous.
@Al F: some of the best analyses of the ailings of the Greek economy can also be found in the IMF reports of the Late 1990s and 2000s. Yet the IMF seems to have come up with very stupid ideas as party to the Troika. The reasons are not entirely clear, but seem largely to be linked with political control of the agenda instead of technocratic (although some of their economists remain obsessed with deregulation as a cure-all when it certainly is not).
Essentially, what we have seen is a banking crisis impacting on Europe to create a eurozone crisis which morphed into a political crisis with massive economic ramifications. It remains a political crisis but is also morphing into a democratic crisis as we speak. This is no longer actually about economics — which is why Tsipras is right to treat it primarily as politics.
“…that the left-wing Greek government has a series of “red lines” and these cannot be bypassed…”
But that is a Syriza problem – not the problem of the named foreign politicians. It’s not some foreign politicians business to worry about red lines that Greek politicians drew up for themselves…
Mr. Tsipras probably blinked, finishing the longest game of chicken in modern times :). And I think it is good so, both for Europe and for Greeks. But … let us wait a little… maybe it is a false signal…
I agree that austerity was partially a mistake. But Greece now – the country fighting for money with despair to survive two more weeks, confiscating money from universities and local governments – is exactly the reverse of what Greeks wanted – this is more austerity, not less. For example, Greece is the only Eurozone country which does not take part in the quantitative easing , which is rather anti-austerity… Time to make an agreement, even crossing all red lines of the Greek left…
which was of course not a Greek decision, but a decision made by an offically non-political, neutral, impartial organisation called ECB to force through anything but impartial, neutral and non-political policies by its political biased and not-so-very-honest political and financial masters (Ref, Juncker: “when it gets though, one must lie…”). In the process, the ECB flaunted and abused the very rules on which it is founded. Strange that nobody ever mentions this. A bit of an uncomfortable truth maybe?
I answer too late… You really do not see that the world is often ironic ? And that sometimes people get just the reverse of what they wanted… Irony is also a Greek word.
It is normal to replace People in a Situation.
Special with our political friends.
it is a Special trick.
I think it has absolut notting to do with his way to Dress.
I like his “no tie”.
He is a victeme from the System.
It is called international diplomacy.
So, what you are really saying here is that a government (any, or just the Greek one?) simply has to accept what the previous government has done an agreed with, regardless of how destructive their actions have been, and must not, in any way or under any circumstances challenge, leave alone reject the actions of their predecessors. Since when are politics executed by convention instead of conviction? If challenging what was done is not “the done thing”, then what is the purpose of an election, other than applying democracy as cosmetics…
Indeed, but those who suffer the consequence of the elected Nazi’s are still very much alive, as are their descendents, and in many cases, still suffering…
I put it to you that in its short time of existence the Euro has become the emblem of a vulture economic system which can only be maintained by strangling weakers economies to maintain the stronger ones, but at some stage, there will be nothing left to take and the whole lot will come crashing down. Which is what we are seeing the beginning of right now…
How many wars, Ukraine style, will the EU have to help organise in order to keep others coming to wait at the door?
Which future are you talking about? The future Greece might want for itself, or the future of serfdom the EU has mapped out for it?
Funny you mention this. Recent studies have shown that the largest shadow economies in Europe exist in Germany and France. And indeed, corruption and fraud are a problem in Greece. But so are they a serious problem elsewhere, just think of the most recent HSBC scandal, the scandals involving Deutsche Bank, Fortis, Anglo Irish Bank, Barclays, etc. The amounts involved here dwarf the amount of corruption and bribery in Greece, but somehow, it would seem to be far less important than the Greek civil servant who accepted a bribe from a German company…One cannot help but wonder if it is really the act of corruption that bothers the politicians, or the level at which it is committed, which sometimes might need a litle protection, if need be at EU level? Ref. Karel De Gucht, EU commissioner…
You are of course blissfully forgetting is that all goods also doubled, trebbled and quadrupled almost overnight with the introduction of the Euro. How would you expect people to pay for even the most basic stuff if their wages remaining at pre-Euro levels while the cost of living doubles?
Maybe one would be much better advised to warn the EU that creating an economic wasteland and convicting a whole population to eternal serfdom is what really endangers the European value basis, and shows, beyond a question of doubt, that any who might be ready to knock on the door would be very wise to think twice before doing so. They are simply wanted as more economic fodder to feed the insatiable greed of the richer states.
The only possible way the Eurozone and the EU will survive this whole debacle is not by bullying the weaker nations into ever growing debt, but by establsihing a transfer economy which will help them reach par with the stronger nations. How willing are Germany, France and indeed the UK to establish such a transfer economy? I wouldn’t hold my breathe…
btw, does the university of Pottsdam not provide proofreaders to correct really bad mistakes, not to mention simply incomprehensible titles, before a paper gets published?
makes absolutely no sense in English, and will make no sense to an English speaker unless he happens to know German or Dutch…
You know, you linguistic expert, it meanwhile does not matter a tiny bit where this guy is coming from: Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, or any other of the 18 Euro-members.
The vast majority of the voters in these countries is meanwhile sick and tired of this farce and wish that you are left to your own devices, no matter how hard you try to make a Greek problem to a European one.
Chicken game over.
Ahah, the man who tells porkies now needs to resort to arrogance to try and get his warped message across. Nice one Chris, good to see you showing your real colours instead of hiding behind the fake image of an “expert”. Keep it up, you’re doing everybody a favour by bringing it out in the open.
The only expertise that shows from all your posts is the dishonesty that indeed makes the EU the farce it is today. Glad you’re beginning to realise that as well…
For your information, it IS a European problem, no matter how hard you try to tell everybody otherwise.
i agree. i really wish greece would find the courage to ditch the northern europeans as well. (for all the greeks problems, which they will be accountable to themselves for), everybody is getting sick of the preaching self-righteousness of the calvinist north.
the sooner greece exits the euro, the better. i hope they find the strength to do it soon!
AN AMATURE is someone who has new ideas / new methods / solutions away from the old & unworkable methods.
THIS IS THE LAST THING THAT THE EU LAYABOUTS WANT.
SOMEONE TO BUCK THEIR LUCRATIVE SYSTEM.
THE PEOPLE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ARE SELFSERVING PARASITES.
RUNNING A SCAM.
THE LAST THING THEY WANT IS SOMEONE TO COME ALOMG & KILL THEIR CASH COW.
I AM NOT DEFENDING VAROUFAKIS HERE –
THE IDOT THOUGHT HE WOULD BE ACCEPTED BY THESE CROOKS & SHYSTERS
BECOME AN ARISTOCRAT LIKE THEM
YANNIS – THAT WOULD MEAN CUTTING UP THE PIE SO THAT YOU GET A SHARE.
AS IF THAT WAS EVER GOING TO HAPPEN
IN THEIR EYES VAROUFAKIS IS THERE TO PLAY THE LEMMINGS ROLE & SHUT IT.
BUT – A FOO; NEVER LEARNS – BY NOW O YANNAKIS SHOULD HAS LEARNED THE SCORE –
WHAT IS THIS STIFF UPPER LIP BULLSHIT ?
THEY ARE HARD CORE CRIMINALS – THIEVES
THEY HAVE TO MAINTAIN AN APPEARANCE OF RESPECTABILITY / AUTHORITY / ARISTOCRACY
THE UNTOUCHABLE / THE UNAPPROCHABLE WHO YOU DARE NOT QUESTION, LET ALONE DISOBEY.
OR THEY ARE BROKE NOBODIES.
THEY ONLY GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT TEAR THEM DOWN
EXPOSE THEM FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE.
Come on – now you’re being too harsh on the Syriza guys 😉
Varoufakis aimed to isolate Germany in the EU.
The result? – Exactly the opposite :-)))
Too smart by half, those Syriza amateurs…
Germans said similar things about the success of dear Adolf in the 1930s. Just wait, you will see what history has to offer the Germans.
Here’s a little bit of info for you to choke on. From what has always proven to be an inpecable source:
GREECE DEBT EXCLUSIVE: IT’S NOT JUST TSIPRAS WHO’S TAKEN OVER FROM VAROUFAKIS….MERKEL HAS TAKEN OVER FROM THE FINMINS
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/greece-debt-exclusive-its-not-just-tsipras-whos-taken-over-from-varoufakis-merkel-has-taken-over-from-the-finmins/
This is the bit you’ll love
And much more stuff you’ll really love…. enjoy!
Breaking news. I just received a notice that the EU has tentatively moved my Greek voting location to Freiburg im Breisgau, to make the tallying closer to where the decisions are really made. 😉
Since everybody in Greece lives in a state of humanitarian crisis now Freiburg im Breisgau seems too fancy.
Better prepare to go to Gelsenkirchen to cast your next vote.