["In many ways, the new proposal from Athens is similar in substance to a compromise offer made by creditors two weeks ago — and that was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum at the weekend." (Extracted from, and highlighted in, the report reproduced at sl. no. II below.)]
I/II. http://www.globalresearch.ca/looming-greek-capitulation-to-troika/5461458 Looming Greek Capitulation to Troika? By Stephen Lendman Global Research, July 09, 2015 Protracted real-life Greek tragedy appears likely to worsen, not improve. Its economy is in shambles, teetering on bankruptcy under a crushing debt burden impossible to repay and entrapment under predatory Eurozone rules denying fundamental sovereign rights. Its people suffer hugely from force-fed austerity – more coming instead of no further amounts as Prime Minister Tsipras pledged. Greece is a money-controlled European colony – with no sovereign rights under Troika-imposed deepening Great Depression conditions. It’s economy is being systematically destroyed for profit – strip-mined of everything of worth. Its people are impoverished with greater pain and suffering coming. Its pensioners are asked to accept sub-poverty crumbs too inadequate to survive. Its youth generation has no future whatever. Instead of fulfilling his campaign pledge to end austerity, Tsipras appears ready to ignore popular sentiment – OXI, no more Troika force-fed pain and suffering to enrich banksters entrapping Greece in crushing debt peonage. Predatory capitalism works this way – profiting by looting weak nations and shifting public wealth to private hands. London Telegraph financial writer Ambrose Evans-Pritchard believes Tsipras called for a referendum he expected to lose – to justify capitulating altogether with Troika demands. His “plan was to (give the appearance of) put(ting) up a good fight, accept honorable defeat, and hand over the keys of the Maximos Mansion (the prime minister’s residence), leaving it to others to implement (Troika austerity demands) and suffer the opprobrium.” Things didn’t go as planned. Popular sentiment “came as a shock to the Greek cabinet,” said Evan-Pritchard. SYRIZA officials thought people would think Sunday’s vote was up or down on Grexit, what most oppose. Earlier, “Tsipras had already made the decision to acquiesce to austerity demands,” only to learn Troika bandits “upped the ante” wanting more than he expected, said Evans-Pritchard. They offered terms Greece couldn’t accept – “Dickensian” ones designed to destroy economies when imposed. Tsipras is “trapped by his success.” On the one hand, total capitulation could incite popular revolt. Alternately, he appears likely to accept most austerity demands, more than he indicated earlier. A third choice is Grexit. Evans-Pritchard believes it “lies straight ahead of him.” Former PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian rates the chance at 85%. “What’s happening on the ground means the situation is slipping out of control of the politicians,” he said. “I don’t think that’s being factored in enough.” He’s more concerned about a “shock to risk appetite” than economic or financial contagion. Meanwhile, Greece is cratering with banks closed, near collapse. Unemployment is growing, poverty and deprivation deepening. Human pain and suffering is the cost of a sclerotic system, doomed to fail from inception. Greek factories aren’t operating. Small businesses are shutting down. Companies can’t pay suppliers because banks aren’t extending credit and foreign transfers are prohibited. In a Wednesday letter to Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Stability Mechanism managing director Klaus Regling, new Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos pledged unspecified “tax reform-related measures” (higher VAT taxes) and “pension-related measures” (reduced retirement benefits on top of earlier instituted 40% cuts). In return, he asked for a new three-year bailout to “meet Greece’s debt obligations and to ensure the stability of the financial system.” He said Athens “is committed to honor its (odious debt) financial obligations to all of its creditors in a full and timely manner.” He stressed Greece’s “commitment to remain a member of the eurozone and to respect the rules and regulations as a member state.” His letter was short of specifics. “The actual examination can only begin once the full package has been put on the table,” said hardline German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. SYRIZA has until Sunday to accommodate Troika bandits. Ignore Tsipras saying he seeks a “fair and viable solution” with creditors. He’s given them virtually everything asked for so far. Will total capitulation be announced on Sunday or sooner – perhaps except for minor concessions too insignificant to matter? Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” II. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2230b2ec-260b-11e5-9c4e-a775d2b173ca.html Last updated: July 9, 2015 10:19 pm Tsipras submits new plan to bailout monitors Peter Spiegel in Brussels, Eleftheria Kourtali in Athens and Claire Jones in Frankfurt The Greek government submitted its highly anticipated plan for the country’s economic overhaul to bailout authorities on Thursday night amid signs that Alexis Tsipras, prime minister, was facing resistance to the proposal from some of the more radical elements in his own party The submission is part of a request for a new three-year bailout that Mr Tsipras must agree by the weekend in order to avoid a collapse of the Greek banking sector that would probably see the country crash out of the EU’s common currency. Leaked: Greece’s new economic reform proposal Greece debt crisis The contents of Greece’s long-awaited economic reform proposal to go along with Wednesday’s request for a new three-year bailout programme. Continue reading The reform plan was approved by Mr Tsipras’s cabinet just hours before a midnight on Thursday deadline, but not before some far-left members of his governing Syriza party raised objections that the plan crossed “red lines”. Greek media reported that Mr Tsipras told his cabinet: “We are ready to compromise.” The submission opens a razor-thin 48-hour window in which Greece’s bailout monitoring institutions must evaluate the plan before it is turned over to eurozone finance ministers on Saturday. They will then decide whether it is sufficient to launch negotiations on a third bailout, which officials said could amount to more than €70bn. “[It is] important for [the] institutions to consider these in their assessment,” a spokesman for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the eurogroup of his 18 counterparts, wrote on Twitter. If finance ministers conclude on Saturday that Athens has not gone far enough, European leaders will gather the next day to make preparations for its exit from the euro. More On this story Leaked Greece’s new economic reform proposal Bulgarian lev gains currency in Greece Comment Crisis not Greece’s alone Greek banks struggle to keep afloat New Greek currency faces rocky road On this topic Markets Insight Eurozone market calm clouds ‘Grexit’ risks Syriza rebel opposes Greek bailout deal Greece given 5 days to avoid collapse Lack of trust threatens to scupper any Greek deal IN Europe Srebrenica casts long shadow over Balkans France rows back on coal subsidy cuts Argentina suffers Greek default déjà vu Greece plans €2bn energy deal with Russia In a copy of the submission obtained by the Financial Times, Euclid Tsakalotos, the new Greek finance minister, vows to press ahead with several reforms — including pension reforms and tax increases — early next week, even before a final bailout agreement could be reached. In a two-page letter accompanying the submission, Mr Tsakalotos said the quick passage of the reforms was intended “as a first element in a trust-building exercise with our partners”. ***In many ways, the new proposal from Athens is similar in substance to a compromise offer made by creditors two weeks ago — and that was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum at the weekend.*** [Emphasis added.] It includes an overhaul of the complicated value added tax system — though it seeks to maintain special discounts for small, remote islands — and phases out the pension system’s “solidarity grant” to poorer pensioners by December 2019. Tellingly, none of the documents submitted to creditors, including Mr Tsakalotos’s letter and a separate missive from Mr Tsipras, contain any mention of debt relief — one of the primary demands of Yanis Varoufakis, Mr Tsakalotos’s predecessor as finance minister. “With this proposal, the Greek people and the Greek government confirm their commitment to fulfilling reforms that will ensure Greece remains a member of the eurozone and ending the economic crisis,” Mr Tsipras wrote. According to officials briefed on the Greek plans, which include a 12-page list of specific reforms, the new submission was compiled with the assistance of the European Commission and the French government. These two are leading a small camp trying to overcome a growing tide of scepticism and mistrust among eurozone governments. Despite the assistance, officials involved in the talks said the proposal was mostly the work of Greek authorities, primarily George Chouliarakis, a deputy to Mr Tsakalotos who is widely considered a pragmatist by his eurozone counterparts. Still, even before the proposal arrived in creditors’ inboxes, there were signs that some eurozone governments were digging in their heels amid mounting distrust over whether Mr Tsipras would implement the reforms he promises. Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s hardline finance minister, commended Mr Tsakalotos for his “more conventional” approach but urged Athens to start implementing reforms immediately, even before reaching an agreement on a new bailout, as a way of rebuilding trust between Athens and its eurozone partners. Philip Stephens Europe will pay the price for Greece A protester waves a Greek flag at the entrance of the parliament building during a rally calling on the government to clinch a deal with its international creditors and secure Greece's future in the Eurozone, in Athens, Greece, in this June 22, 2015 file photo. To match Special Report EUROZONE-GREECE/NEGOTIATIONS REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis/Files The rest of the EU should take no pleasure in Tsipras’s discomfort See full article “Just do it. That would win an incredible amount of trust,” Mr Schäuble said at a conference in Frankfurt. In a sign Mr Tsipras could face stiff resistance at home, his Syriza party called a rare meeting of MPs at 8am Friday morning to weigh the proposal. Government officials said the plan — known as the bailout’s “prior actions” because they are the specific reforms that must be implemented before receiving aid funding — would be presented to parliament late on Thursday night. Parliament will be asked to sign off on the prior actions and give Mr Tsipras’ negotiators a mandate to negotiate based on the plan by Friday afternoon, officials said. The US and the International Monetary Fund have been pressing eurozone governments to be more accommodating towards Athens and offer it debt relief, and Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said creditors should include some form of restructuring as part of the new bailout. “I hope that today we will receive concrete and realistic proposals of reforms from Athens,” Mr Tusk said. “The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors. Only then will we have a win-win situation.” But Mr Schäuble recounted a recent conversation with his US counterpart in which he suggested swapping debt-laden neighbours: “I offered my friend Jack Lew these days that we could take Puerto Rico into the eurozone if the US were willing to take Greece into the dollar union. He thought that was a joke.” "The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors. Only then will we have a win-win situation" - Donald Tusk, European Council president Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president overseeing its response to the Greek crisis, said “there is some willingness to look at this issue” in the bloc. Debt relief was unlikely to come in the form of a “haircut”, however, and more likely via an extension of the timeframe in which Greece would have to repay its debts to fellow eurozone members. But Mr Schäuble said the leeway for further debt relief for Greece — after a restructuring in 2012 — was “very low”. Michel Sapin, France’s finance minister, urged his eurozone counterparts not to underestimate the costs of Grexit. “What’s costlier? That Greece exits the eurozone and defaults on all its debt? Asking the question is answering it,” Mr Sapin told Radio Classique on Thursday. “A deal is the best solution for Greece and Europe.” “Greek banks have been closed for more than a week. Greece is already in a pre-chaos state,” he said. “How will history judge us?” Additional reporting by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris and Shawn Donnan in Washington -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. 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