******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
Financial Times, June 1, 2015 5:07 pm
Tsipras drops envoy to IMF amid pressure from Syriza hardliners
by Kerin Hope
Alexis Tsipras has cancelled the appointment of a controversial Athens
economist as the country’s representative to the International Monetary
Fund following pressure from hardline MPs in his increasingly restive
Syriza party.
The Greek prime minister’s decision on Elena Panaritis, a former
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) MP, social entrepreneur and World
Bank analyst, signalled a heightening of political tension after Athens
missed Sunday’s self-imposed deadline for a bailout agreement amid
reports of creditors pushing for cuts in pensions and sharp rises in
value-added tax, both rejected earlier by Mr Tsipras as “red lines” for
the government.
If Greece fails to wrap up a deal this week to unlock €7.2bn of aid, it
could run out of time to legislate and implement reforms before the
bailout expires at the end of the month. In an article published in Le
Monde on Monday, the premier claimed the EU and IMF had shrugged off
substantial concessions made by Greek negotiators.
More than 40 Syriza lawmakers signed an open letter at the weekend
demanding the immediate withdrawal of Ms Panaritis on the grounds she
was not qualified to represent an anti-austerity government at the IMF.
“Her political background is completely at odds with the values,
perceptions and policies which Syriza represents . . . This a wrong
decision,” the letter said.
As a Pasok lawmaker, Ms Panaritis voted for a series of austerity
packages legislated during Greece’s first bailout in 2010. This meant
she “cannot express the positions of the present government”, it added.
Ms Panaritis stood down on Monday, saying she had not sought the IMF
job. She is expected to remain an adviser to Yanis Varoufakis, the
finance minister, who backed her for the IMF post despite objections
from Euclid Tskalotos, a deputy finance minister and chief bailout
negotiator, and lukewarm support from other senior officials.
It was the first time since Syriza came to power at elections in January
that its MPs have so openly opposed a government decision, suggesting
that lawmakers and party officials are worried that Mr Tsipras may
accept a new austerity package in order to avoid a default on €1.2bn of
IMF loan repayments due by the end of this month..
Ms Panaritis’s withdrawal also marked a fresh setback for the combative
Mr Varoufakis even though the prime minister’s office said in a
statement the appointment was “a collective decision” by senior ministry
officials.
The IMF post became vacant in April when Thanos Katsambas, the
incumbent, resigned unexpectedly after Mr Varoufakis breached protocol
by arranging a meeting with Christine Lagarde, the managing director,
without first consulting him.
Ms Panariti first incurred criticism from Syriza officials while working
as a member of the bailout negotiating team. She was sidelined from the
talks in March after leaking that creditors suggested the government
should tackle a growing liquidity crisis by halting payments of pension
and public sector salaries “for one or two months”.
Mr Varoufakis was dropped as chief negotiator in April following
pressure from the European Commission and IMF but still participates in
discussion in Athens on the government’s negotiating strategy.
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
