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German
newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung interviewed Alexandros Avataggelos who
admitted that Greece bought German submarines at high prices to secure
entry to euro! Alexandros Avathagelos had been jailed in Korydallos
prison for the submarine scandal with German firm HDW.
“Mr
Avataggelos talks of a time when plenty of money was flowing in the
arms market. 'Until the turn of the millennium European governments
spent a lot of money on weapon procurments and Greece, before the
crisis, was a very good customer,' he said.”
“The
Greek government bought much and gladly at high prices. Decisions
rarely had to do with weapon system value.”
“As
Süddeutsche Zeitung adds, there was no real competition. The arms
procurement was always a political decision 'Greece bought submarines
in order to enter the euro. 80% went for that cause. Socialist Kostas
Simitis was in power in Athens at the time and social-democrat
Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin. The sale was important to HDW and the
SPD constituency in northern Germany,' says Avataggelos.”
It
is worth to notice that under "Socialist" PM Kostas
Simitis, Greece entered the neoliberal era of banking lending and
bubble economy. He and his "close group" in the government
are remembered as the "modernizers", and this period marked
the beginning of transformation of the Socialist party into a
neoliberal political formation. In essence, "modernization"
was the word that had been used instead of "neoliberalism".
A
series of scandals shook the Greek society during the period of his
governance, with the most characteristic, the Athens stock exchange
scandal in 1999
(http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/news/article/stock-exchange-scandal-case-to-be-retried?rel=newsfeed4),
bribes from purchasing defence systems
(http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1521),
and the over-costing of the disastrous for the Greek economy Olympics
of 2004. It is characteristic that until now, according to some
well-known journalists in Greece, no one knows the real cost of the
Olympics, as it hasn't been announced yet!
It
is also worth to notice that Yannis Stournaras, former Minister of
Finance and current Governor of the Bank of Greece, who has been the
most willing to adopt the destructive neoliberal policies that the
Troika lenders imposed to Greece, has also worked as a financial
advisor to the Greek Ministry of Finance, participating in the
negotiations for Greece's entry into the European Monetary Union,
under Simitis administration.
Lucas
Papademos, the banker who replaced George Papandreou when the later
announced his government's intentions to hold a referendum for the
acceptance of the terms of the eurozone bailout deal, was also
involved in Greece's transition from the drachma to the euro as its
national currency, under Simitis administration.
And
"remarkably", current Greek Minister of Finance, Gikas
Hardouvelis*, who replaced Yannis Stournaras, was Director of the
Economic Office of Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, during
2000–2004.
The
most remarkable, however, under Simitis administration, is the speed
with which Greece followed the "new brilliant era", coming
from the US, when the Clinton administration delivered the economy to
the hands of the bankers and big companies, promising prosperity
through the supposedly "free market".** A prosperity that,
eventually, never came ...
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