“With Alexis Tsipras, Greece was now saved,” German chancellor at the peak of the Greek economic crisis, Angela Merkel, notes in her memoirs book, entitled “Freedom.”
Talking about the “Greek crisis” in 35 pages, Angela Merkel recalls the events 2010-2018, the negotiations, the referendum and the exit from bankruptcy as well as the crisis prime ministers Giorgos Papandreou, Antonis Samaras and Alexis Tsipras, the negotiation, the referendum and the exit from bankruptcy.
“I couldn’t believe my ears,” Merkle notes about Papandreou. “At that moment I realized that Papandreou had not said anything yet, so I asked him directly: “What do you want?” The answer was that he didn’t want anything, but that Greece was in a very bad situation.”
The failed Samaras government: Tsipras’ “victory is due to the anger of many Greek citizens over the euro bailout programs… His predecessor Antonis Samaras had failed to fully implement the reforms agreed upon in the second bailout program.”
Alexis Tsipras: Greece was now saved
“Alexis, you haven’t said anything yet. Do you intend to take the floor?” “No, Donald has already explained everything.” “And what do you plan to do now?” I asked, surprised. “I will immediately take the plane to Athens and consult with my cabinet about what to do,” he replied calmly. I was left speechless …. .
“Greece was now saved,” Merkel notes about summer 2015 and the referendum of July 5.
The opponent and hardcore austerity-supporter Merkel admits in essence that Tsipras “saved Greece” and completely overturns the “myth” that the left-wing Premier cost Greece “tens of billions of euros” with his policies in the first half year of 2015 as his national and international opponents claimed?
PS I prefer to refrain from commenting on Merkel’s ‘sugar-coated’ and distanced memories that drove my sick parents in their late 80’s and millions of other Greeks to despair, hardships and impoverishment.
Nope. I won’t remind her of the fierce slander Merkel, her fiance minister Schaeuble, and her other kids in the CDU/CSU block in Germany and Brussels did.
No. I will let her die in peace she did everything right to save the German and French banks.
I just wonder if she has a sentence on how she ousted with a coup d’ etat the elected PM Papandreou when he asked for a referendum in 2011.
Thank you KTG for brightening up my morning with a very small typographical error. The thought that Schaeuble was Merkel’s “fiancé” has really cheered me up.
What the **** are you talking about? Papandreou was the primary cause of the political crisis for Greece with the eurozone, as was Pasok for joining the euro with no plan, no strategy and explicitly caught up with German-French political corruption. Papandreou rushed off to France and Germany, and was the first politician to blame the Greek people for the crisis. Amongst other things, he stated “I am the prime minister of a country where nobody pays their taxes”. Then, after several anti-Greek statements, he proceeded to ask hte French and Germans for loans. These were the acts of a lunatic, to be charitable to him. Others suggest more nefarious reasons.
no matter his many mistakes he was deposed
Varoufakis may not agree. The headline should read “Tsipras saved Germany”, perhaps it was one of her typos? Greece and Ireland saved the German and French banks and thereby their economies. For austerity read German self interests. Having been responsible, indirectly, for the recession she went on to change Europe with her migration programme. In the words of Yeats in his poem Easter 1916, a terrible beauty was born, all is changed, changed utterly. Certainly, the lives of many citizens of Greece underwent utter change, for the worse. The ordinary person is still paying. Then we had FYROM becoming North Macedonia, what skulduggery brought that about?
An appalling, dangerous woman.
I should add, the book Adults in the Room should be on the school curriculum.
Everybody knew that Greece was cooking the books and was overspending. Yet, German, French, English and Dutch banks continued to lend Greece more. The ECB also knew.
Why? Because they knew they would be bailed out. The first trench of EU tax payer funded bailout went straight to these banks that laughed all the way to their banks.
Tax payers bailing out banks that made bad investment decisions is bad capitalism. Not without nationalizing these banks. Does somebody bail me out when I make a bad investment? Didn’t think so.
Greece was sacrificed to save banks. Of course, no bail outs would have meant that Greece would have defaulted and would had needed to leave the Euro. It would have been hard but Greece would be debt free and lenders and investors would return. And Greece would still have many of its assets.
I find it poetic justice that Germany, a country that profited the most of the Euro and the common market, was to been found cooking the books and trying to hide a budget hole of 60 billion. A country that pushed austerity down everybody’s throat now has to austery itself.