Handelsblatt: Greece Will Remain Under Lenders’ Supervision Until 2059

Pam Barker | Director of TLB Europe Reloaded Project

Merkel has just made a brief visit to Greece, the first since Tsipras was elected in 2015, which was met with angry protests. As reported by RT, Yanis Varoufakis (pictured), the then-economy minister under Tsipras, who Varoufakis himself claims was booted out by George Soros, had this to say about the visit (emphasis added):

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis slammed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ahead of a two-day visit by Merkel to the austerity-stricken country.

Mrs Merkel is in Greece to inspect the desert she made and to call it… recovery, Varoufakis tweeted on Thursday. “Ironically, her Greek triumph unleashed deflationary forces that hit Germany (eg -ve interest rates) and wrecked her career. Never before has a German Chancellor wasted so much political capital.”

At ER we have reported extensively on the utter economic mess and wave of human destruction that have been inflicted on Greece under so-called ‘austerity’ measures. RT continues, “Merkel is expected to congratulate Tsipras’ government on exiting the bailout program, and urge his government to stay the course with the reforms when the pair meet on Thursday.” We wonder what fantasy world these people live in.

Below, Theo Ioannou at Greek Reporter picks up a Handelsblatt piece, which details how Greece will be under ‘lenders’ superivision’ (think: IMF & Co.) for many years to come. Meanwhile, Tsipras is trying to railroad through an omnibus bill, leaving lawmakers just six days to read what could amount to hundreds of pages of text. The result of the bill will be more economic misery for citizens through higher taxes and cuts to wages and pensions.

First, a video of the protests against Merkel from PressTV with an interesting discussion of how Tsipras has gone from Merkel opponent to Merkel protegé, turning his people into ‘debt slaves to creditor banks, who bought up the debt with the object of putting them into debt and taking the interest forever’ (economics professor, Rodney Shakespeare):

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Handelsblatt: Greece to Remain Under Lenders’ Supervision Until 2059

In a report about Greece’s new omnibus bill and a potential break from its bailout in August 2018, German newspaper Handelsblatt claims the country will remain under lenders’ supervision for another 40 years.

The newspaper says the enormous bill, which was introduced to parliament on Tuesday (ER: Jan.7) and is expected to be put to vote next Monday (Jan.14), is highly detailed but lawmakers have not been given enough time to scrutinize it.

“The plan is that the multi-bill will pass from the Greek parliament before the next Eurogroup meeting on January 22, so that Greece’s lenders can release the next €5.5 billion bailout tranche, leading the country out of its bailout obligations by August 2018,” the paper notes.

It adds that the short time afforded to lawmakers to study the bill and debate it is exactly what Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras needs for a smooth vote. The German paper also notes protests and strikes against the bill scheduled for next Friday and Monday.

In spite of the fact the bill will lead to further wage and pension cuts, as well as tax increases, the government majority in parliament — despite vocal unhappiness from some of Tsipras’ own SYRIZA lawmakers — is expected to vote for it, the report says.

“Tsipras has pledged to his supporters that the country will break its vicious austerity circle next August and throw out its despised lenders for good,” the report adds. “But with the country committed to more austerity measures until 2022, that is self-delusion.

“A total of 80% of the Greek debt remains in the hands of the country’s lenders,” Handelsblatt concludes. “This means that until Greece pays up its debt, which, with today’s rates it will manage to do by 2059, the country will be under its lenders’ financial supervision.”

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Original article

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Featured image: Reuters / Alkis Konstantinidis