Saturday, May 26, 2012

News

Finance Minister Says Greece Averted 'Nightmare Scenario'

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos

TEXT SIZE - +

February 21, 2012

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos says his country has avoided a “nightmare scenario” by agreeing to a 130 billion euros ($170 billion) bailout deal.

The cabinet was meeting on February 21 to discuss how to pass the reforms stipulated by international lenders, which include huge spending cuts and beefed-up monitoring by eurozone officials.

The country has just over a week to approve a round of spending cuts of more than 3 billion euros tied to the bailout.

Trade unions have called strikes and protests for February 22.

Opinion polls suggest that the two parties in the coalition which are dominating parliament are facing huge losses at the next election, scheduled for April.

Greece has already been through a massive austerity program in return for an earlier bailout.

This forum has been closed.

Comment Sorting

Comments

by: Jack from: US

February 21, 2012 20:20

the fortunes of French banks are mainly at stake in this whole thing. As always, one has to read between the lines of Orwellian newspeak of western "free" press.
It is not the Greece which is being bailed out. It is mainly French banks which lent insanely to Greeks and created huge bubble in social and real estate sectors of Greek economy. Once economy went down and real estate market collapsed, French banks had to be saved. And how? The EU taxpayers will be robbed first, the money will formally go to Greece, but in fact the money will go to French banks to make up Greek "installment payment" on its debt (to formally prevent its default), while at the same time adding to Greek "debt" to EU. It does look like win-win situation for banks and EU government:
1. banks are saved using EU taxpayers' money
2. Greece loses its sovereign status and converts to some sort of EU-governed and NATO-patroled black hole, similar to Kosovo and Bosnia
3. US government croooks step in and set up major drug trafficking operations via Greece to supplement Kosovo and Albania routes
Who loses most? EU taxpayers and Greeks.

In Response

by: Ilya

February 22, 2012 01:28

The Greeks would be better off going bankrupt? Greece being bailed out by the EU means that NATO's going to send its troops in? You know, your posts tend to start off almost plausible and then swiftly degenerate into full blown psychosis. And if you're interested in drug smuggling conspiracies then you should look closer to home. From wikileaks:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/46612
8. (S) "And another thing," Rahmonov continued heatedly, "why do you think I got rid of the 50 Russian generals who used to be advisers in our Ministry of Defense. They never did anything for us. They never helped us build a professional military, never gave us any military-technical assistance, because they wanted to keep us weak so their buddies could play games and make fortunes dealing drugs. I got fed up, said thanks but now it's time for you to go home. That's one reason they eventually came up with the plot to overthrow me."

Basically, Jack, Eugenio and the other fascists claim that Putin is wonderful and the west is terrible while accusing the west of doing the things that Russia is actually doing.

In Response

by: Eugenio from: Vienna

February 22, 2012 08:58

Ilya, you know, you seem to be one of those guys who have never been outside of their native kolkhoze, but absolutely needs to talk about everything in this world.
GREECE: it is going to go bankrupt anyways. Since the "salvation" actions by the IMF, ECB and Frau Merkel were initiated about two years ago, the sovereign debt of the country has gone from some 120 % of its GDP to some 170 % of its GDP. At the same time, the economy - and therefore the taxes perceived by the Greek govt - has continued shrinking (a loss of about 15 % of GDP starting from late 2008). The obvious questions are: how can Greece possibly ever pay its debts off in this situation? Has the EU "salvation" action contributed to reducing the sovereign debt of Greece? Obviously, it hasn't - it has just conributed to augmenting it with the purpose of depriving the Greek people of their sovereignty, and their possessions AND THEN letting the country go bankrupt - we will see it happen this year already.
It is absolutely the same thing the IMF did to ARGENTINA before and in 2001. Just research a little bit on defaults by different countries (Mexico, Russia, Argentina and now Greece) on their sovereign debts and you will see a trend here.
Why do you think that the Greeks regularly burn the German federal and German nazi banners on the streets of their cities? Are they "fascitsts" or what? Just get a little bit informed about the world OUTSIDE of the kolkhoze that you happen to live in.
VIDEO - Financial Fascism? 'Greeks should revolt against debt slavery!': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnccQngx_AQ&list=UUpwvZwUam-URkxB7g4USKpg&index=4&feature=plcp
VIDEO of anti-capitalist protests and police repression in SPAIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E71Dxvh3r7g

by: Eugenio from: Vienna

February 21, 2012 22:09

In other news from the EU: RFE likes talking about unrest in the Arab countries or when 5 people come together to protest in Russia - it is also a topic that RFE covers extensively. What is now happening in SPAIN, however, does not seem interesting at all. Anyways, tonight thousands of people have concentrated on the central square of Madrid - la Plaza del Sol - to protest against the Greece-like policies of the conservative Spanish govt. Spontaneous protests regularly erupt in many cities all over Spain since last Saturday. The guys from the ECB and IMF are driving all these European states towards a civil war, I am telling you. VIDEO of police brutality against protest in Valencia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E71Dxvh3r7g&feature=related

In Response

by: Ilya

February 22, 2012 09:11

RFE focuses on undemocratic countries. I'll expect them to start focusing on Spain when their government starts slaughtering protestors like your beloved Assad. Plus the moochers rioting in Greece and Spain aren't asking for democracy. They just want free stuff and free money even though their countries are broke.

In Response

by: Eugenio from: Vienna

February 22, 2012 09:30

Dear Ilya, if it was some else, I would probably ask him/her to use his/her BRAIN and try to answer the following question: "And why is it that DEMOCRATIC and EUROPEAN states - such as Greece or Spain - are BROKE after having spent 25-30 years in the EU?" But judging by your comments, talking about "using brain" in your case makes no sense at all, as long as you don't seem to have any.

In Response

by: William from: Aragon

February 22, 2012 22:45

Gentlemen, please! I look forward to reading your insightful comments on RFERL daily but please don't make it personal. Simply say what you believe and support it with evidence. If you do not have evidence then expect others to challenge you. That should cause you to either find evidence or to re-evaluate your assumptions.

In Response

by: Ilya

February 23, 2012 02:35

Dear Eugenio/Jack/FSB, read about public choice theory if you want a detailed explanation of why democracies go broke. Here's the short version of what's been happening in Greece and Spain:
1. The governments have run out of money after living beyond their means for a very long time. Specifically, they've built up huge, wasteful and unsustainable welfare states that have to be dismantled now.
2. Dismantling welfare states hurts. Responsible reforms hurt. Having surgery to cut out a tumor hurts. To expect everything to improve immediately is ignorant. Offer a superior alternative which doesn't lead to bankruptcy or bugger off.
3. Greece's GDP is suffering because its welfare state is still in the process of collapse, there's still a global economic crisis (caused by government subsidies to the housing market in the name of social justice), and the euro is overvalued for the Greek economy. The idiots rioting, burning businesses and scaring off tourists aren't helping either.
Merkel et al are trying to prevent the economic collapse of an EU member. That's why they've been throwing money at it when they'd really prefer to spend it at home. You don't deprive people of their possessions by throwing your own money at them.
Your concern for 'police brutality' is hilarious given your undying support for the regime in Syria. Does gunning down waves of protestors and torturing children to death count as 'police brutality' you fascist hypocrite?

by: William from: Aragon

February 21, 2012 22:12

Greece still owes 130 billion euros. The debt has not gone away, it has just been restructured, and the "nightmare" continues.