Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis directly blamed the International Monetary Fund and two European countries for the delays of the second review of the Greek program.
Speaking to newspaper Ethnos tis Kyriakis, Dragasakis said that the second review could have concluded by December 5th, if it wasn;t for the IMF and two European countries that put obstacles in the process.
“Some European countries demanded unrealistic primary surpluses of 3.5 percent for ten years. On the other hand the IMF demanded new demanded new austerity measures that affect the poorest of the society,” Dragsakis stressed.
“The rules changed while the game was ongoing,” he added.
Dragasakis explained that the Greek government had fulfilled most of its obligations towards the creditors by late November.
“However, two European countries declared that implementing the program was not enough. In order to be an agreement, the IMF should fully participate, they said, although the Fund has been abstaining from financing the Greek program since August 2014,” he underlined.
He stressed that it was German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who stated that “there is no program without the IMF.” This “gave the Fund a great bargaining power to demand additional austerity measures 2% of the GDP; additional measures beyond the agreement of August 2015” between Greece and the European creditors.
“The eurozone finance ministers wanted the IMF but would not accept its request for debt relief,” Dragasakis stressed adding “the government and the prime minister made laborious efforts to break the deadlock.”
Yiannis Dragasakis expressed optimism that the objective of an agreement at technical level (staff level agreement) until March 20th is possible.
“The government and the negotiating team of creditors’ representatives are working to achieve this objective,” Dragasakis added. He dismissed reports about a 4. bailout and Grexit.
“A fourth bailout and Grexit are off the table,” he said.
SYRIZA MEP Kostas Chrysogonos warned on March 8th, “if we do not enter the markets by 2018, the worse lies ahead and this is not the 4. bailout. Right now we are with one foot outside the Eurozone.”
The next Eurogroup meeting is scheduled on March 20th.
Beginning of the week, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that a comprehensive solution between Greece and the creditors was possible in April.
PS Dragasakis did not elaborate on the second European country, but it was the Netherlands, if I am not wrong.
The usual playbook. You know things are going bad when the Greek govt starts blaming everybody else!
Considering that it is the IMF and the same two eurozone countries that have fucked up the eurozone and the greek economy over a period of 6 years, the Greek govrnment’s claims are entirely credble. They do not even need to name the two governments…
Wouldn’t be at all surprised if the 2nd country was the Netherlands..maybe it will change when the people
vote Rutte into daly retirement on wednesday..If Wilders is victorious..it will after “Brexit” be the next nail in
the coffin for the European Union..so get ready to pack your suitcase anyway..
Yes but if there is no more EU who will pay for Greece’s bailouts and even buses and higways?
Greece needs EU cash to survive.
Indeed. And Germany will have to start pouring money directly and obviously into its failing banks, instead of sneakily doing it via the Greek so-called debt. That’s why the status quo remains as it is: Germany has no interest in letting anything change.
Exactly!
Germany is the single cause and the root of this crisis, simply because it wants to feed itself and its banks off the corpses of the south. If for some reason everybody in the south paid their debt the next day, Germany would suffer a nervous breakdown moaning the loss of the colonies.
Unfortunately, I become more and more convinced that, as long as this vampire, deeply corrupt nation remains part of the EU, there is no hope for a better future.
These E.U. ” experts” and I include the I.M.F. in this spend more on dinner or lunch, than the pension they expect people to survive on for a month. And you can bet that if its on expenses it will feed a family of four in Greece for a week. Parasites.
This is not correct. The budgetary allowance for EU staff is not high, even to the point of being insufficent a few years ago to pay the cheapest of London hotel prices (I don’t mean even three star). The people who are spending the money are the politicians appointed by national governments as Commissioners: they are mostly crooks, as was evidenced in 1999 when they were all forced to resign over corruption. It has NOTHING at all to do with experts: it is politicians.
True for EC officials, but not true for IMF vultures, Thomssen and the lot and the appointed specialists of parasites such as the Eurogroup or even worse the Euro (working?) group.
Yes, this is probably correct. I don’t have any contact with the IMF, so I don’t know about their pay or expenses. The eurogroup does not even exist legally, therefore all the specialist parasites are presumably not employed under EU contracts.
The question still remains if the returning to the financial “markets” isn’t a phantom either and what will be if these kind of “investors” just say “nope” – this is a situation that demands (more) parallel strategies.
It’s a lie that EU pays Greek roads or buses!
Greece paid her EU-fees, as the working classes have no chance to avoid it they’ve paid taxes, Greek and European taxpayers’ money was used to construct roads that afterwards get sold to the man, degrading the taxpayer to a costumer being ripped off minimum doubled by lackeys called politicians, being bribed with cheap golden shower orgies by the man, plus betrayed the promise that on these roads the trade will run into paradise: ok, if you check tourism related blogs you won’t find many rent car tourists who are disappointed about most of these roads either.
Not to mention that the huge majority of not working people pays that shit also due to VATs and a “welfare”-system that isn’t comparable bad against what the EU-“leading” countries pay their – from well-paid jobs dropped out – workers to not start revolts and to have their beers.
Regarding buses: If necessary f.i. China would be proud of helping this direction even without any financial-markets and it would boost also more tourism from China, smiling tourists having fun posting their selfies about Chinese buses in Greece.