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The Greek "Choice": Hand Over Sovereignty Or Take Five Year Euro "Time Out"
For those who missed today's festivities in Brussels, here is the 30,000 foot summary: Europe has given Greece a "choice": hand over sovereignty to Germany Europe or undergo a 5 year Grexit "time out", which is a polite euphemism for get the hell out.
As noted earlier, here are the 12 conditions laid out as a result of the latest Eurogroup meeting, which are far more draconian than anything presented to Greece yet and which effectively require that Greece cede sovereignty to Europe, this time even without the implementation of a technocratic government.
- Streamlining VAT
- Broadening the tax base
- Sustainability of pension system
- Adopt a code of civil procedure
- Safeguarding of legal independence for Greece ELSTAT - the statistics office
- Full implementation of autmatic spending cuts
- Meet bank recovery and resolution directive
- Privatize electricity transmission grid
- Take decisive action on non-performing loans
- Ensure independence of privatization body TAIPED
- De-Politicize the Greek administration
- Return of the Troika to Athens (the paper calls them the institutions... for now)
One alternative, generously presented to Greece, is for the country to put some €50 billion of assets - the best ones - in escrow to creditors. A more polite was of putting would be a Greek secured loan. This is how the Luxembourg FinMin Pierre Gramegna laid it out:
"A few new ideas were added to the table, especially one which is very important for some member states, which is that Greece would put a portion of its assets into a company that would be more independent from Greece."
"More independent" from Greece and "more dependent" to Berlin.
Greece would place about €50 billion of state assets into an independent company. Those assets could serve as collateral against aid loans, Gramegna says. "It would act as a kind of guarantee. There is great hesitation from the Greek side and now the heads of state and government have to choose."
"It would be a company structure based in Luxembourg, which would be managed from Greece with supervision by the European Commission and by the European Investment Bank. It would remain in Greek hands but it would create more assurances if it was known that a lot of assets were in this company."
"If one knows that the third bailout package would cost more than EU80B, one understands that countries are urging for some guarantees from Greece."
In other words, Greece is told to set aside a quarter of its GDP for Europe to do as it sees fit, and which can be "seized" if Greece is seen as veering away from its third bailout promises again.
And since Greece has no option but to promise everything and the moon, it will surely comply hoping that it is once again allowed to promptly forget all the promises as soon as it pockets some of that €86 billion in new bailout funds just to unlock the €120 billion in deposits held hostage in Greek banks by the ECB, even if the resulting debt will push Greek debt/GDP well above 200%.
Why?
Because the alternative is, and we quote...
"In case no agreement could be reached, Greece should be offered swift negotiations on a time-out from the euro area, with possibly debt restructuring."
... from the Eurogroup document:
No wonder Tsipras looks like this at the moment:
Somehow we think that if the only "alternative" is ceding sovereignty to Merkel and the rest of the northern European state, the vast majority of the population - which now clearly understands there is little further upside from remaining in Europe - may just opt for the aptly named "time out" from the most destructive experiment in Greek history. And even beg to make it permanent.
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Nonsens, that's reality biting.
Greece to Europe (Germany) For a country to leave the Euro the vote must be unanimous. (sp?) Including us you dumb fucks. No we are not paying any of these loans back that the fucking criminals who were in power took on. Go fuck yourselves. And we are not leaving the Euro. Go fuck yourselves. We are keeping the Euro. We are going to charge the old fuckers who took your lolly and retired with fraud. We are going to sue G.S. for the money back that we have paid. And again GO FUCK YOURSELVES.
Is this like the 12 step alcohol recovery program that exists today....
Step one..."we admitted we were powerless over debt and that our lives had become unmanageable"..
I live debtfree and as a result it doesnt suprise me to see most Americans and Europeans sympathize with Greece, because they are in the same situation - since they are drowning in their own debt. I would have thought that on this website i would find more debtfree people sympathizing with the creditors. If i was Schaeuble and the Greeks came asking for a third bailout package swearing by hell and high water that this time REALLY they would implement pro-growth reforms and privatize state assets, would i trust my voters money with that? No so far syriza has played games and wrecked their own economy which was on the mend, albeit from a low base. Now sacrificed that small growth for what? So yeah, i can totally see that Schaeuble wants there to be collateral in the form of assets that can be seized and privatized whether the debtor wants it or not. Repossesion is absolutlely normal and happens all the time when a bank realizes it loaned money to a deadbeat, one that has come back a third time of his own volition. I would ask true libertarians on this website to speak up more often in favour of personal responsibility and true freedom, and against this narrative of innocent victim of european bullies in Berlin and Brussels. syriza is a party full of hardline socialists, communists and marxists that want to expropriate the wealth of Europeans now, not just fellow Greeks, to prop up a nanny state riddled with patronage and nepotism. that is criminal, not the behaviour of the creditors.
Europe joined in bombing and destroying Libya, so this should come as no surprise to anyone.
According to the BIS US Banks hold (dec 2014) 10,171 Million Euro's of direct Greek Debt... this does not include any derivate exposure...
Greece has defaulted... enough hype and bullshit... so which banks are holding the debt and how much is the derivate exposure...
Is it time to bring the popcorn out....
Tsippie, Tsippie, Tsippie...you betryed your electorate and twisted everyone's arm in Parlaiment to go your way on the "offer" to the Troika...you opened the door for the Troika turn the tables on you! You are now a walking dead man politically. You are not even worth assassinating! No wonder Varoufakis dragged-up!
Join the long line of politicos that have recently made MASSIVE errors in judgement and sewered their careers. Ametuer move. Even worse, I think Ametuer Hour may just be starting.
who cares. anyway, he cant do anything.
the goldmansachs jews from usa caused the propblem - they are the onlyone who can fix the problem.
and they will decide when to fix the problem
america dont need a strong and healthy europe
Rule one debts that can not be paid WILL NOT BE.....
If the banks were "Ametuer" in loaning money to institution that have no means for repaying should these banks and the executives that profited from these loans be held accountable for their folly?
You cannot cure insolvency with more debt...
Russia and the New Development Bank are waiting in the wings..... and yes the coming months will more than likely be a repeat of Argentina in 2000.
NATO implications????? This is going to be very interesting to watch unfold.
Is it true that a convoy of German tanks have been seen throughout the night travelling to southeastern Europe?
The Greeks are not blameless victims. Their politicians brought them to this sad state of affairs. Where the Greeks went wrong, was signing up to the Bailout package which paid off the European banksters. And now they are facing the Eurobanksterparatroppen. So what's it gonna be ? Bondage or Slavery. Either option comes without lube.
There is one final card for the Greek to play. The whole population should pull up stakes and move to Brussels. They are still in the EU, nothing to stop their moving to another country.
Politicians are people's representatives.
Politicians must understand only one thing:
Money is made to serve man, Man is not made to serve money.
But The Murkey Angel (swaying her teats everyway) says something else : 'We must save Euro at any cost'
Well ma'am the costs are easy to ignore when they cost someone else but eventually the costs will cost you, then what will you do.
That's what the Greeks have voted for. Where's the problem?
The do not want to save. That's the base line. So let's them try to get along without saving. Not my business.
What are some of you thinking. It's not the bankers which make the laws. It's not any produser who takes his customer as hostages. That's state facism. So if the Greeks want some change to the better, they better start throwing off their politician and bueraucrats. And they are "intelligent" enough to evad taxes for this corrupt state. They do not have to kill every politician but simply send them off to earn their own money. That probably is some news for this moochers.
It's hard to bear you ignorance that taking a credit imples wanting to pay it back. If yo do not want to it's not the creditors to blame. But I guess some of you simple lost their inner compass to the moochers in politics. I really which for everyone of you that, they make you pay the price for that ignorance.
BRING BACK VAROUFAKIS! Most refreshing politician I've seen in a LONG, LONG TIME...
Name those financial improvements (measurable) in Greece that Varoufakis achieved during his work? This is not a show for your entertainment you know – there are people who are suffering from such opportunists as Varoufakis.
Once upon a time the Persians came to our doorstep and asked for "Earth and water" as a token of surender...this time thay ask for the same thing and this time they will get the same answer..."Fech your earth and water at the bottom of the pit.
Zerohedge, your cheap propaganda does not work...use this photo insted of the one above that shows Tsipra's feelings after a night full of sex with Merkel...
http://media.tvrinfo.ro/image/201205/w500/tsipras-che_06831900.jpg
Germany: If you want us to give you money to give back to us then you will have to take it up the arse forever more, otherwise you can just go away.
Tough choice huh?
Varoufakis had confirmation that elements in Germany were determined to get Greece kicked out no matter what Greece did, except for handing over the entire country to Germany.
Thus Varoufakis quietly dissapeared and is speaking with the Chinese and Russians at the moment whilst Tsipras plays out his own ending.
Or maybe Tsipras lost his nerve and Varoufakis just gave up.
Golly yes, how "draconian."
Cut the freeshit budget, privatize inefficient state-monopolies, reduce corruption in the bureaucracy.
The horror!
/sarc
Or, could it be that the Troika's demands are exactly the kind of reforms that Greece should have implemented on its own decades ago to avoid becoming a stagnant, bankrupt, socialistic shit heap in the first place.
yup.. DETROIT.. now I could go on, and mention that 18trillion $ deficit, but I don't think you care to understand..
Yes, the US is on the same path, just not as far along.
Virtually every country in the world is somewhere on that path.
Hey Greek men.. sell your balls to the athletes of the rest of the world so you have no more children and they have untraceable 'roids Tsipras.. you first!
Or be a real hero
ROLL THE DRACHMA PRESSES AND TAKE THE 'TIME OUT'
They then can sue Goldman Sachs (for the false analysis and money to produce such) and that would make a lot of us here very happy..
Typical tort court style, these negotiations.. the real faulty party is never goling to admit to making bad loans...
All-night talks between the Greek government and euro zone leaders have resulted in a reform-for-aid deal for the debt-stricken country.
Greece bailed out. Good for 5 more years. Greece loses. Goldman Sachs wins.
Blood in the streets can happen if most of the Greek population are dissatisfied with losing the Sovereignty then shooting member of hte troika in Athen could become reality . The mask has fallen out of the face of the EU . Drop dead soon EU of the vassals .