Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was interviewed by state ERT TV on Tuesday evening. It was his first interview after the Brussels agreement on Monday morning with the Euro leaders. Below I copy paste my tweets with Tsipras’ answers to journalists’ questions.
Tsipras’ answers:
Schaeuble told Varoufakis in March, tell your PM for a consensual #Grexit with humanitarian aid and bailout loan.
We couldn’t have #Grexit as we have no foreign exchange reserves to support the new currency, it would devalue big
We had no Plan B, Schaeuble had one.
For own currency we’d need to enhance foreign exchange reserves with bailout loans from the same EU that would cause the Grexit
I asked a study about the impact of #Grexit when I saw the impact I rejected [the idea]
Banks will open when new bailout finalized. Bank services to be restored “gardually”, ECB likely to increase support
If banks open without final agreement, people will go & withdraw their deposits. Gradual increase of withdrawal limit
Insurance funds lost 25bn euro from the PSI. Unemployment of 25+% causes further losses 4 InsFunds as no contributions
I brought a bad deal but I did not lie. I had illusions
I can’t believe what I just read. It’s a desaster of the scope of the μεγαλη καταστροφη
Tsipras does not believe in the deal, IMF says it is not feasible. It looks like Hollande, Obama and 72% of the Greek population are the only supporters of the agreement (and the poll indicating the latter is being questioned on this site). Is Grexit becoming more appealing by the day?
The first two sentences of the July 13 eurozone summit statement said: “The Euro Summit stresses the crucial need to rebuild trust with the Greek authorities as a pre-requisite for a possible future agreement on a new ESM programme. In this context, the ownership by the Greek authorities is key…” In this interview Tsipras essentially disowned the agreement.
Rebuild trust means to vote this illegal laws tonight, the other shit is out of context and copy-paste of German Goebbels-Media and politicians vomit of CDU/CSU/AFD/FDP
Even if polls wouldn’t be a fraud as they – in times of cell phones and close to every 2nd got no phone at all – only call registered voters at home and that the banks are closed don’t make this a fair questioning either since when 736 folks are the population?
Not Obama. The IMF has come out strongly against an agreement without debt relief and they are controlled by America. So if they refuse to participate in a deal which they know is unworkable then all bets are off….and Tsipras has been humiliated to no purpose.
“There were two options with Euro leaders: agreement or default”
Thats what I wrote in previous comment.
The options in january 2015 were :
1-agreement. Austerity-Remain in euro.
2- Refuse austerity -leave euro.
3- There was a third option that was try to negotiate better deal.
But that shold have been done carefully with diplomacy , not threats.
Making a referendum is to threaten the European Union!
Yes, it actually is! Imagine 28 countries holding referanda with contradicting results, that would never work. The same is true for treaties an old government signed – if a newly elected government can cancel them, the EU would fall apart. That is the meaning of the famous “elections don’t change anything” quote.
As conducted, the referendum certainly made Grexit a very real possibility. It makes sense to ask the people a clear question at the beginning or at the end of the negotiations. This extremely costly referendum (25 bn euros by IMF estimates) was called abruptly in the midst of the negotiations, with a question that was misleading (to say the least), and with insufficient time to properly prepare it and debate the question. The result was ignored anyway (unless you are Tsirpas and fall back on the “creative ambiguity” of the referendum question to come up with your own interpretation).
Now the EU is left to clean up after the referendum, scrambling to find the money for bridge financing. The most feasible option is facing opposition by Britain and the Czech republic, who are not even in the euro zone. Is that increasing the chances of a Brexit? So yes, calling the referendum is hurting the EU.
Which court and which institution decided the question was misleading except from Uber-European Polito-Mafia and their elected and unpaid Goebbels-Media?
And if it was so misleading why did why all try to talk into the question, manipulated the voters with corrupt tv-stations and faked polls?
Some people within the Greek government and parliament (e.g., Lafazanis) interpreted the referendum result as “no more austerity, even if that means leaving the euro zone”. Others (e.g., Tsipras) interpreted it as “minimize austerity without exiting the euro zone”. Same referendum question, same answer No, two very different interpretations. If the government ministers are confused, what is expected of the voters? This looks like a pretty misleading referendum question to me…
I do not know why any politician would support one position or another in such a referendum. I still believe the referendum made a mockery of democracy and should not have been called in the first place.
No logic problem with trying to find out what the question was by some “answers”? I guess you don’t know what the question was or can you please post the complete question, to make it easy in Greeklish?
What you call democracy is slavery for the rest of the world
O.K. The ambiguous non-words Brexit and Grexit.
They are undefined.
Creative ambiguity. Maybe creative is the wrong adjective.
You are referring of course to the new ScheubIe-ied non-democratic, corporatist i.e. fascist European Union, and not the EU the originaI 12 ECC members signed up for. That earlier one actuaIIy mandated referendums. But maybe you are too young to know that.
Please, please dear people of greece, think about Grexit once more. I think this is the absolute only chance to get out of this desaster.
Why did Zipras this interview just three days before the national parlaments have to agree to the bailout? Is it tactic or stupidy?
Excellent, go on, so that we get a better picture of the new Greek leader who seems to be a good talker and honest politician that could become the man Greece needs in these days to dominate all the centripetal forces that will make Greece ungovernable. He needs support not only in Greece, but also from abroad, Washington included. Like in the case of the old Papandreou after the war, not an ideal solution for everybody, but the best solution possible that averted the worst. But envy, hatred and malice could easily destroy “my only hope” again.
“He needs support not only in Greece, but also from abroad…”
Bullshit.
Wow. The sheer quality and depth of your argument is breathtaking.
So Grexit was probably possible with help of reserves of Greek Central Bank of Greece (22 billion euro)… And it was Tsipras’ decision – austerity, and not Grexit.
It is very interesting whether it was a good decision. I would not be so sure.
But maybe there were too many complications (whether such a confiscation would be legal ?) In any case, now the story is very interesting again : why did Tsipras choose austerity ? And : is it a good choice ?
I am not sure the LP has a worked out plan on return to Drachma. if they have they should openly inform the public about it and let people decided.
You’re right but if they plan on building a new party
If they change it into Turkish Lira or Dollar it will be legal as Euros are no legal currency kuz Europe is no constitutional state.
If the LP would be anti-capitalists they would suggest to laser-print trillions of Euros and “rip off” the Uber-European fake money distribution ECB and punk it up.
Every one will accept silver drachma coins!
He should have learned a little accounting and engineering economics (finance) when he studied Civil Engineering.
Maybe not Tsipras’ personally, but Syriza’s ? In any case, a very difficult decision.