Greece eyes last central bank funds to avert IMF default

Written on March 4th, 2015 in politics Comments Off

Published on The Telegraph, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, March 2, 2015: Syriza is not interested in emergency EMU funding if it means kowtowing to Troika demands.

Greece is preparing to tap its final pension reserves at the country’s central bank if needed to avert a devastating default to the International Monetary Fund and keep the government going over the next two weeks.

The Greeks must pay the IMF €1.5bn in a series of deadlines this month, starting with €300m as soon as Friday. No developed country has ever defaulted to the IMF in the history of the Bretton Woods financial system. Such a move would shatter confidence and reduce Greece to a financial pariah in motley company with Zimbabwe … //

… Syriza has long argued that this debt is illegitimate, alleging that the ECB bought Greek bonds in 2010 in order to save the European banking system and prevent contagion at a time when the eurozone did not have a financial firewall, not to help Greece.

Mr Varoufakis said the result was to head off a Greek default to private creditors that would have led to a large haircut for foreign banks if events had been allowed to run their normal course, reducing Greece’s debt burden to manageable levels. Instead, the EU authorities took a series of steps to avert this cathartic moment, ultimately foisting €245bn of loan packages onto the Greek taxpayer and pushing public debt to 182pc of GDP.

Relations between Greece’s Syriza government and the rest of the eurozone remain extremely tense despite a fragile ceasefire agreed in Brussels to buy time and prevent a forced ejection of Greece from the euro, a development ruled as unthinkable by the leaders of Germany and France, and the European Commission.

Greek leader Alexis Tsipras lashed out at Spain and Portugal over the weekend, calling them “Axis powers” that are trying to suffocate Greece’s Left-wing revolution. The conservative leaders of the two countries appeared stunned by the vehemence of the attack, seeking to defuse the crisis by expressing warm support for the Greek people.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup’s chief, said Greece could secure some new funding as early as this month if it delivers promptly on reforms imposed by the now defunct Troika, but the comments were dismissed in Athens as a mere repetition of demands by creditor powers that have yet to face up to the anti-austerity revolt sweeping southern Europe. Syriza has already said it will cancel privatisation of the Port of Piraeus and the major utilities, and “drastically review” the sale of Greek airports.

Mr Varoufakis said Greece did not want any further money if it meant having to buckle to Troika terms. “We won’t take the next tranche if the price is having to continue with the ‘Memorandum’. That is not what the people voted for,” he said. It is a thinly-veiled warning that Greece will default on €300bn of combined liabilities to EMU entities and states if pushed too hard, regardless of what this implies for monetary union.

Whatever piece of paper they signed in Brussels 10 days ago, the two sides are still talking past each other.

(full text).

Links:

Cyprus is More Important to Russia than Greece, but Not This Important – John Helmer, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, March 3, 2015;

Greeks in the Crisis – We Need To Explain Ourselves, on Spiegel Online International, by staff, March 2, 2015 (Photo Gallery): What hopes and fears has the new government in Greece awakened, and how bad are relations with Germany? Four weeks after the election, SPIEGEL sat down to discuss the situation with six Greek people from different walks of life;
Special pages Greece, Related articles, background features and opinions: on Spiegel Online International; on ZNet;

BROOKLYN, NY & ONLINE – Public Meeting Tonight: Are we ready to start a political movement for BIG in the United States? on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, by Karl Widerquist, March 1, 2015;

Totalitarian Rule in America: False Flags, Secret Prisons, Extrajudicial Assassinations, Media Censorship, The Rounding Up of Alleged “Terrorists …, on Global Research.ca, by Joachim Hagopian, March 1, 2015;

GREECE: Is Syriza about to implement a basic income? on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, by Stanislas Jourdan, Feb 28, 2015;

Winnipeg, Manitoba: Working towards a Basic Income for Manitoba and Canada, on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, by Karl Widerquist, Feb 28, 2015;

Lettre ouverte au Mouvement Français pour un Revenu de Base MFRB, dans blog.Mediapart.fr, par Alexandres, le 28 février 2015;

C’est très simple. Ou alors beaucoup trop compliqué (Préface de Jihad Made in USA), dans Investig’Action, par Michel Collon, le 27 février 2015: Ou bien c’est très simple. Nous sommes bien informés. Il faut croire les médias quand ils nous disent: Les Etats-Unis veulent la démocratie en Syrie. Vraiment? Avec l’aide de l’Arabie saoudite et du Qatar?

The Real Reason Yellen Freaked Out Yesterday, on Outsider Club, by Brittany Stepniak, Feb 26, 2015: Dovish Fed Chief: Everything Is Great! Just DON’T Audit Us;
on en.wikipedia: Yanet Yellen (FED) (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist. She is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, previously serving as Vice Chair from 2010 to 2014 …; /External Links;

The Income Inequality Video CEOs Don’t Want Americans To See, 16.26 min, uploaded by TYT The Young Turks, Oct 2, 2014;

Petro Dollar, Government, Advanced Technology, The Visitors, 6.11′33 hours /(371.33 min), uploaded by The Luminary, Sept 25, 2014;

… and this:

… und noch dies:

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