TSIPRAS

A NEW DAY – AT LAST

kolotoumba, , 1 Comment

Six months after this blog was created, its author waited and waited and waited for SYRIZA to break their promise of not renewing the MEMORANDUM/MNIMONIO.

At the end of this long period, Greece was almost ousted from the EUROZONE and received threats of being ousted from the EUROPEAN UNION as well.

The Greek Parliament authorised the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to seal the deal by an unprecedented 251 out of 300 vote count.  In theory he government lost its parliamentary vote of confidence (coalition voters who authorised Tsipras were less than 151) but the over 80% vote in favor of an Agreement was a very very strong weapon.

Over the historic weekend of July 10-12, the Eurozone leaders reached an agreement which finds all parties as non-winners.  Compromises were taken, exaggerated requirements were submitted and retracted, “red lines” were broken but the European Union remained UNITED.

2015-07-13-20150712-eurosummit-statement-greece.pdf

 

The entire statement here

PM Tsipras has a very large majority of citizens that are willing to pick-up the bill if he leads the country with no injustices and revenge tactics. The 61% referendum “NO” voters  got their ‘wake-up” call and in 48 hours understood that one needs to compromise when negotiating with everything to lose.

There is no time for licking our wounds. We need to act fast and decisively. We need to understand that things will become much worse before they become better and we need to stay UNITED.

KOLOTOUMBA, U-TURN, KIVISTISIS, or what have you are all irrelevant now.  We look ahead and all hope for a better Greece.

A NEW DAY – AT LAST

New Agreement? YES, please…

kolotoumba, Leave a comment

 

Well, we have been living in a roller-coaster since PM Tsipras announced his intention to have Greek voters decide if they approve or reject a bail-out agreement issued (and then retracted) by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

The NO vote won by an overwhelming 61% despite the calls of many former state and EU leaders and people of intellect who had warned that a NO vote would be interpreted as a NO TO EURO and/or NO TO EUROPE vote.

The past three days have seen the resignation of Ministry of Finance Varoufakis, the gathering and consensus  of the leaders of five parties of the parliament for an Agreement with Greece’s debtors and finally TODAY, an official request for a “stability support” based on the ESM mechanisms. In other words, Greece is requesting a new LOAN AGREEMENT a new MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING, a new MNIMONIO, or what have you.

ESM Application

 

So NO won but all actions that have taken place are as if the YES won…

May this be the KOLOTOUMBA GRANDE which this blog has been wishing for?  IT BETTER BE!

Fingers are crossed that

  • The INSTITUTIONS will agree
  • Greek political parties will provide a vote of confidence
  • In the meantime, a GRAccident/GRExit will not nullify the ESM application
New Agreement? YES, please…

FT.com article debates over likelihood of KOLOTOUMBA

kolotoumba, , Leave a comment

Tony Barber of the Financial Times has posted an excellent article on the Greek Prime Minister’s, Alexis Tsipras, internal debate on whether to perform the long-waited KOLOTOUMBA.

FT.com article on KOLOTOUMBA
FT.com article on KOLOTOUMBA

Full article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2b6ab8d4-e27d-11e4-aa1d-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3XIlWQBwu

The article’s conclusion is indeed conclusive

Mr Tsipras seems, then, a flexible politician who, if he chose, could perform a “kolotoumba” and dump the Syriza diehards. A different interpretation is that he is preparing the ground, in the event of a default, for an appeal to all patriotic forces to back him.

In only a matter of days, we will find out the truth.

FT.com article debates over likelihood of KOLOTOUMBA

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: THE TROIKA

kolotoumba, 5 Comments

 

troika-go-home

Harry Potter fans very well know that in the series’ early books, Lord Voldemort (Harry’s archenemy for you Muggles) was too fearsome to even be mentioned by his name. Wizards at Hogwarts (the Wizard school for you Muggles – enough already) referred to him as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named“.

Well the Greek Government has now its own He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or rather “It-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named“:

The TROIKA

If we were allowed to pronounce it (it will be banned by law anytime now) we would read it as Tro-ee-ka (rhymes with Perestroika).

But what is/was the TROIKA?

According to wikipedia the TROIKA is: The tripartite committee led by the European Commission (Eurogroup) with the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, that organised loans to the governments of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Cyprus. Together these three international organisations representing the bailout creditors, became nicknamed “the Troika”.

Well the TROIKA has been declared officially as dead by many Greek government officials including the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during the press conference following the European Union Summit on February 12:

“The Troika is over“, said Alexis Tsipras

Source : http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/troika-over-declares-confident-tsipras-council-summit-312087

Outcome: The TROIKA may be over but on Friday 13 February several Greek bureaucrats are holding “technical” discussions in preparation for the next EUROGROUP with the following individuals (all of which were members of the It-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named).

  • Rishi Goyal from the International Monetary Fund.
  • Klaus Masuch from the European Central Bank.
  • Declan Costello and Thomas Wieser from the European Commission and the EU Economic and Financial Committee.

The TROIKA is dead! Long live the “European Institutions assisted by the International Monetary Fund”

(we are desperately in need for a new nickname – leave your suggestion in the comments)

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: THE TROIKA

67% sounds about right!

kolotoumba, , , 1 Comment

2015-02-06 15_12_12-Financial assistance to Greece - European Commission

In 2010 Greece signed the MNIMONIO.  Actually it was the “Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece”, a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Hellenic Republic in order to cope with the Greek government-debt crisis.

MNIMONIO is the Greek word for MEMORANDUM. In most Greeks conscience , it is the source of all problems that have caused austerity and a degradation of the quality of life in Greece. In reality it is a Contract defining the Economic Adjustment Programme which was signed between the Greek Government on one hand, and on the other hand by the European Commission on behalf of the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/assistance_eu_ms/greek_loan_facility/index_en.htm

Since 2010 Greece has had five different Prime Ministers, three of them elected by the Greek people and two of them acting as temporary PMs between George Papandreou resignation in 2011 and Antonis Samaras election in 2012.

The current PM, Alexis Tsipras, has invested his political ambition and mandate into a very harsh anti-MNIMONIO agenda, eventually receiving a 35% electorate vote in January 2015.  Mr. Tsipras and his party SYRIZA has labeled the MNIMONIO as “disgraceful“, “onerous“, “reason for suicides“,  “reason for loss of sovereignty“, etc.  Mr. Tsipras has promised that he will “tear apart” the MNIMONIO on “the very first day” that he would assume his responsibilities as the Prime Minister of Greece.

Outcome: Well this is a very long journey of KOLOTOUMBAs to come. It will take many posts to describe how the MNIMONIO will be torn or not (or renamed or transformed or what-have-you). What was a very first glimpse of the colossal KOLOTOUMBA to come, is the statement made on February 5 by Greece’s Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, during a joint press conference with his German counter-part Wolfgang Schäuble.

When asked by a journalist which parts of Greece’s programme is the new government not prepared to meet Mr Varoufakis said:

It is not that the current reform program is to be discarded altogether.

I would say that 67% of what’s in that list consists of moves and measures that we should want to take ourselves

Source: 46:00 in the following video

Interesting approach considering that SYRIZA, not even once, voted for a measure, law or regulation that was brought to the Hellenic Parliament between 2010 and 2014.

67% sounds about right!