by system failure
No one would
probably expect something new from the recent press conference of the
Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras after the last EU summit in
Brussels. But, though it may sound strange, through the usual
ambiguities, contradictions and soft or even stilted questions, some
truths came out loudly.
The first admission from the prime minister's mouth came
out early, even before the questions of journalists. Referring
to the three things that directly concern Greece, he said:
"The
second was the financial union which concerns, among other things,
the way of recapitalization of the banks, without burdening the
borrowing of the countries. And this interest us greatly, because as
you know, when this process is complete, Greece will have the
opportunity to benefit from this too, thus reducing its debt."
The prime minister himself admits openly, with this
statement, that the recapitalization of banks, at least the way that
has been done until now, burdens the borrowing of the countries and
increases their debt. A statement that stands fully opposed against
the "necessity" of the bank recapitalization which is
promoted from the government officials, mainstream economists and systemic journalists as a matter of life and death for the
economy. Of course, he didn't explain why so many billions in
bailouts were given to banks for the last five years, and why a large
portion of the new dose of the loan to Greece will be given also for
bank recapitalization.
"In
other respects, I had the opportunity to talk about Greece. And
everyone recognized, everyone, without exception, that Greece has
made great progress recently. And I pointed out that once the
agreement is finalized with a positive report of the troika, should
at all costs, quickly, directly, the disbursement of the dose to be
expedited. Why? Because the Greek society and the Greek economy are
at their limits. The "blood" of the economy called
liquidity is zero.
Unemployment has become a
nightmare. Extinguishes the right of young people, of children to
have dreams. And every Greek, every day, goes through a personal
drama. And I told them that "this is not Europe."
I also stressed that the
progress that has been made is too great to be put sometimes in
danger, through exaggerated statements or excessive requirements."
Therefore, starting his statement, the Greek prime
minister claims that, everyone recognized the progress that Greece
has done lately, while on the other hand he admits that the liquidity
is at zero level, unemployment has become a nightmare, young people
do not have dreams, and that every Greek goes through a personal
drama every day. But right after that, he repeats that the progress
that has been made is great! However, this glaring contradiction
reveals completely the neoliberal perception for what progress means:
progress means to improve the economic indexes even if one has to
destroy people's lives. But the worst is that neither the economic
indexes are improving in the experiment called "Greece"!
Then who is gaining from this situation? We all know the answer:
banks and all kinds of opportunists.
Next, it would be interesting to see a couple of
possible stilted questions from the journalists:
Journalist: "It is the
first time that you participate with the capacity of prime minister,
Mr. president, at the EU summit, a very crucial meeting, in which,
however, the issue of Greece was not on the agenda. What, exactly,
the country achieved in this meeting, Mr. president? "
A. Samaras: "Well, those
we discussed indeed have not been forwarded, if you like, for a
specific country, and therefore to have an announcement. But I will
tell you that generally what was discussed, was for me, as for many
others, a vindication of our positions which we have taken a long
time ago for the issue of the development. Namely, essentially opens
the way for Greece to benefit from the development, which is now
acknowledged by the EU itself as the first major issue.
Certainly,
the second is that this reference, which is so positive for Greece,
has been put while being out of the agenda, and this changes, if you
like, the psychological climate and the mood."
The journalist points
out the fact that, in this very crucial summit, the issue of Greece
was out of the agenda, thus "opening the door" to the Greek
prime minister, who answered that the positive reference for Greece was
out of the agenda. A simple positive reference for the country
was presented as a great achievement of the government, so great,
that a whole question had to be spent for this matter while there are
serious other matters which are related to the survival of the Greek
citizens.
Journalist:
"Mr. president, two weeks ago, Mrs. Merkel was in Athens and you
had a detailed discussion. Two days ago you met her again at the
European People's Party. Today you had again a meeting with her. Why
do you have this obsession for Mrs. Merkel, which among other things
can provide a base for political interpretations and
misinterpretations. Namely, what more did you say, for example, today
and why only with Mrs. Merkel and not another European leader, like -
lets say - France's Mr. Hollande, from a big country also."
A.
Samaras: "... And since you like to tell you the news, I invited
to Athens Mr. Hollande, and he accepted to come with pleasure, I
would say. And through the diplomatic way, a specific day of his
visit will be finalized.
And
I want to tell you also that, today, the Italian prime minister Mr.
Monti, has answered to my invitation when I went to Rome to meet him
and he said that he will also come to Athens with pleasure.
Both
of them will come, I guess, over time, the dates for both will be
determined by the so-called diplomatic chammels"
A completely unnecessary question, since, it had already
leaked that Hollande accepted the proposal of Samaras to visit
Greece. This question simply served to open another door for the
Greek prime minister, so that with his "revelation" and the
supposedly fresh news for his initiative to invite Hollande and Monti
in Greece, show that he is not attached to the German policies.
In another question, the journalist asks about what the
prime minister intends to tell to Greek citizens for the new cruel
measures of 13 billion and how will persuade MPs to vote for them,
Samaras answers with generalities like "I'm not satisfied",
"the Greek people should not pay for public trains'
organization", "we are a government who is fighting",
"we must show that we are the first who fight and care about the
common goal" etc. An answer which is irrelevant to the
journalist's question. The only words that we could find that they
had probably something to do with the question is that "Those
which we have to do, should perhaps have done them a long time ago,
many of them on our own, without someone to ask us. I believe
sometimes we have to do more than those which our contractual
obligations require.",
implying that, since we didn't do what we had to do until now, the
Greek society must be punished hard and bleed. The Greek politicians
of course, despite their huge responsibilities, always stay out of
the punishment, as if they are not part of the Greek society.
Another revelation through prime minister's mouth, comes
from the answer to the following question:
Journalist: "Mr.
President, I would like you to explain where this optimism concerning
the release of the dose is based, given that the IMF has a rather
different approach to debt sustainability.
Secondly, how all the
analysis for the progress of this viability are based on improved
benefits for growth, when there was no such a prospering scenario in
the past?
Among other things, Samaras stated that:
"120 billion will come
from the European Investment Bank, 120 billion is the total new
amount, which can be tapped. The European Investment Bank increases
its own capital by 10 billion and thus increases leverage with a 1
over 6 to 60 billion which they can give in one year, so in 3 years
can give extra 180 billion, additionaly, where mostly? To the
medium-small businesses.Why to the SMB, I say small, small and medium
businesses, which mainly need liquidity."
The Greek citizens
lately are hearing everyday millions and billions for various
purposes, either being cuts, new taxes, all kinds of fines, amounts
that have escaped abroad from big tax-fraudsters, bailout packages
for banks, or promises to restart the economy. The truth is that we
lost the sence of numbers. So it would be useful to clarify, what all
these billions are, which the Greek prime minister announced.
Certainly it is the program that has already been voted in the European
summit on June 29 this year. Certainly all these billions are not of
course only for Greece, but for the whole European small-medium
bussiness sector. Specifically, the amount that the European
Investment Bank announced for the Greek small-medium bussiness sector
by 2015 is 1.4 billion. But this is an opportunity to compare the
numbers: the maximum amount that the European Investmen Bank is
willing to give for the whole European small-medium bussiness sector
is 180 billions for 3 years, while only the Greek banking sector has
received more than 200 billions in bailout packages for the last 5
years. Further comments are unnecessary.
But
the other revelation of the Greek prime minister comes below:
"But let me tell you
also, that here was made, in paragraph 9 of the final outcome text,
something very important too. Because the European Council asked
quickly for those provisions to be adopted, ie through the
harmonization of the national contexts of each country to guarantee
deposits. That is, in essence, has been passed in paragraph 9 for the
first time, the proposal that had been pending in the air, of Monti,
to guarantee deposits."
That is, essentially, the Greek prime minister admitted
that there was no provision to secure the deposits so far, even at a
European level, and hence, the central argument of securing the deposits - which is used as an alibi for all these packages of billions given to the banks - supported very often by the government officials, mainstream economists and systemic journalists, is just a lie.
But,
anyway, there is no diference from such decisions. The dominance of
the big banks has been secured completely through the last action of
the bankers Monti and Draghi, as, they are providing direct funding
without the "disturbing" supervision of the eurozone
member-states and at the taxpayers' expense, while also they get
complete control of the flow and the print of new money across the
whole eurozone through the European Central Bank which is converted
to a similar Federal Reserve of Europe.
The
statements of the Greek prime minister had just officially confirmed
the total commitment of the European leaders to this failed economic
model that serves exclusively the interests of banks and large
corporations and sends to misery millions of European citizens.
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