EU “won’t let Greece default”

The title of this article is false and misleading. It should read 'EU won't let French and German banks default'. Let's be honest here, they are not bailing out Greece, but they are simply bailing out their own banks who are on the hook for billions in bad loans.
The unelected EU slave masters are dictating to Greece how to live their lives, how to tax their citizens, when their retirement age should be, and how many coffee breaks they are allowed each day. It's pretty sickening what is going on. I really hope Greece wakes up and pulls themselves out the Eurozone, and brings back the Drachma. This way they will be free to make their own decisions.

Unfortunately Greece has no alternative but bowing before thy great meister's.

The title of this article is false and misleading. It should read 'EU won't let French and German banks default'. Let's be honest here, they are not bailing out Greece, but they are simply bailing out their own banks who are on the hook for billions in bad loans.

Dragan


You're right Dragan.Ever wondered how a cash injection of 109Billion euros into a relatively small economy like the Greek one could lead to austerity measures?

The reason is that the cash is funnelled from the taxpayers of Germany, or Europe,straight to the banks. That's right, the banks, who are more culpable than the Greek people in creating this crisis. But the banks never lose. The taxpayer covers their losses, just as the taxpayer never gets to share in their profits.

As far as Greece's potential default is concerned I can't see Greece defaulting yet - the costs are too high- even though any loans haircut will be regarded as such .The real crisis will come if Portugal, or especially Spain or Italy get themselves into the same position. At that point the Eurozone won't be sustainable, and then all bets are off.

@Danilo, @Dragan

What happened in Greece the last 20+ years, pretty much looks like what happened in yugoslavia 1945-1990.

Yugoslavia, had a real economy based on agriculture and industry, but also was (relatively) inflated, because through loans, at times it was pumped up to look stronger than traditionally stronger economies like Romania/Hungary. Also the standard of living in Yugoslavia was a little bit higher than it really deserved. The west managed to fill Yugoslavia with loans (i believe some 20B total) until it became non-operational, and then the west destroyed it and took for free some of its republiks (BiH/Croatia two striking examples)

Now Greece, is a little different story, because mainly, we are a creation of the west. West created us in 1821-1830 in the same manner that they tried to create Kosovo 1999-2008 (it seems that it takes them 9 years fixed time to create a country, from revolution to recognition). However the similarities are there.
Greece had a "banking" economy, that means our heavy industry were the banks. Nothing impressive in agriculture or industry. Now the west (after destroying yugoslavia) chose to make their creation and protectorate the new "safe" centers of the balkans. Pumped Greece with over 100B of "euro funds" and more than 300B loans, in order to boost the most "western", "democratic", "ancient" "prototype" "model" country of the balkans, in front of which all the rest of the slavic countries should bow and declare obedience to the western democratic/ancient values.
Moreover, certain western circles, 2 years ago, presented the Greek banks as the ONLY ones withstanding the global crisis!!! LOL, and Greece being the most stable european economy !!!
That was the story till 1 year ago. Then suddenly they remembered that Greece has loans, is ineffective, is slowm is corrupted, etc...

want my frank view????

Of course Greece has always been corrupted, family-controlled, without any notion of true antagonism, progressiveness, without the slightest sense of organization even at crucial fields as education or public health. We were BY FAR the worse organized country in the balkans, FAR BELOW ex-YUGOSLAVIA and BULGARIA... pre-communism, during communism and post communism.

BUT, and this is a great BUT,

the west KNEW very well what they were doing and who they were giving the money. The fact that some greeks are total opportunists that does not excuse the western lies-plot in the slightest.
If the west really cared for the well-being of Greeks, they should not spoil us in the first place. They should teach us some organization, some basic knowledge of economy

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)

Within the current international and European context, the Greek problem is undoubtedly significant, most of all for us the Greeks. However, Greece is not the Euro Area’s central problem nor it can be the catalyst for a new phase of the global financial crisis. The size of the Greek economy does not allow for such a role.

The problem of sovereign debt in the Euro Area is of vital importance, and the fact that three of the 17 member-states have joined the support mechanisms, provided by the Euro Area itself and the IMF, shows that Europe has made very important steps towards dealing with the problem.

However, these three countries (Greece, Ireland, and Portugal) account for merely 6% of the Euro Area’s total debt. Greece alone accounts for about 3% of the Euro Area’s total public debt. While such a debt is very high for Greece, it may not still be capable of causing a domino effect of pan-European dimensions.

Those who do know Greece not just as macro-economic and fiscal figures, know that Greece is charming not only because of its history but also because of its contradictions. Despite the crisis and the three successive years of recession, Greece remains one of the 30 largest global economies with a population of only 11 million. Greek tourism and its shipping sector are always two strong brand names. This year, while in full recession, we saw a fast increase in exports albeit starting from a relatively small basis.

However, Greece at the same time has a large-scale grey economy, extended tax-evasion, a large current account deficit and a similarly large deficit in competitiveness.

the west KNEW very well what they were doing and who they were giving the money. The fact that some greeks are total opportunists that does not excuse the western lies-plot in the slightest.
If the west really cared for the well-being of Greeks, they should not spoil us in the first place. They should teach us some organization, some basic knowledge of economy

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)
(Pyrros, 4 October 2011 16:10)


Pyrros,

You are correct on one point, I doubt we will ever read an analysis such as yours, however, I would not recommend anyone take notes.

Your analysis is analogous to a child blaming an adult for buying him an ice cream cone after the child has soiled his clothing with the ice cream.

There can be an optimism for the completion of the relevant processes in all member states, since the decisions of July 21 are of vital importance for the euro and the euro area. There is a connection between the result of the vote in the German Parliament with the fact that Greece has sent a very clear and decisive message at an international level that it meets its obligations that stem from the support mechanism. Those are not obligations towards the trojka, Greece’s institutional partners and creditors, but towards the country itself and most of all towards its young generation.

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)
(Pyrros, 4 October 2011 16:10)

Do you really think that any poster is going to take notice of the nonsense than an Albanian is uttering against Greece?To start with you wrote:
"Now Greece, is a little different story, because mainly, we are a creation of the west. West created us in 1821-1830 in the same manner that they tried to create Kosovo 1999-2008".

Your position is exactly the same as that of our northern Bulgarian speaking neighbours.Kosovo was carved from Serbia but which country was Greece carved from?The Ottoman empire? Do you know how many independent countries were in Europe at the height of the Greek revolution in 1821?

That is the myth of "the annexation" of Macedonia to the Greek state.The Greeks won what was rightfully"theirs" on the battlefield against the forces of the Ottoman empire and their agents.The same could be said about the kingdom of Serbs that "annexed" today's fyrom the land they subsequently dubbed Vardaska Banovina.

Pyrros said :Greece had a "banking" economy, that means our heavy industry were the banks. Nothing impressive in agriculture or industry.

This is because you probably haven't been in Western supermarkets and you haven't seen how many Greek agricultural products are stacked on their shelves.Take a trip to France,Germany,UK and you'll see what I am talking about.

Pyrros wrote "Pumped Greece with over 100B of "euro funds" and more than 300B loans, in order to boost the most "western", "democratic", "ancient" "prototype" "model" country of the balkans, in front of which all the rest of the slavic countries should bow and declare obedience to the western democratic/ancient values"

I don't know the source of the numbers you're quoting from but what I am certain of is that more than half of the Greek debt is owned by Greek banks,pension funds and insurance companies.

The second part of your paragraph is pure nonsense because if you really believe that how do you explain the 3.5 trillion Euros poured into Italy,Spain, Portugal and Ireland?

Pyrros wrote "Of course Greece has always been corrupted, family-controlled, without any notion of true antagonism, progressiveness, without the slightest sense of organization even at crucial fields as education or public health. We were BY FAR the worse organized country in the balkans, FAR BELOW ex-YUGOSLAVIA and BULGARIA... pre-communism, during communism and post communism.

Corruption is not the prerogative of Greece.Western capitalism thrives on corruption. Look at Germany, Ziemens has been found guilty of paying 8.5 billion in bribes to politicians in 78 countries.Having said that I don't try to condone corruption in Greece and the problem is that nobody seems to be convicted and jailed.Corruption in Bulgaria?Why do you think Bulgaria is not allowed to join Shenghen?

Now am I trying to paint a beautiful picture of Greece here? Not at all.Greece is deep in the S..t and I don't think is going to get out easily-if is going to get out at all- and not with the same politicians in charge.

As Einstein used to say "if you continue to do the same thing with the same people and expect a different result is called insanity".

@pyross

ya. too bad all those mean banks forced Greece to borrow all that money.

We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence.

Pyrros


This statement shows clearly that you haven't got a clue on contemporary Greek history.I take great offence with your comment because my great-grandfather lost his life in Yanitsa fighting the Turks 100 years ago and so did thousands of Greeks in the war of liberation.But you wouldn'u know, would you?

We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence.

Pyrros


This statement shows clearly that you haven't got a clue on contemporary Greek history.I take great offence with your comment because my great-grandfather lost his life in Yanitsa fighting the Turks 100 years ago and so did thousands of Greeks in the war of liberation.But you wouldn'u know, would you?
(Leonidas, 5 October 2011 12:10)
An albanian pretending to be greek gives himself away faster than a cat trying to bark.

"The west managed to fill Yugoslavia with loans"

How dare they loan all that money.

"Pumped Greece"

Well. Looks like the Greeks have (at least you do) the same problem that other Balkans peoples have - they love to blame everyone but themselves for their own problems.


Greece lied about its solvency and borrowed money illegally. If it were a person, it would be in jail for lying on a loan application.

@ Leonidas,

and something else, lets see who will be the real greek among us, when the bombs start to fall above our heads. Lets see who will be the real patriot then.

Sitting in front of your computer and writing in a Serb forum will not make you a better greek.

PS1
Serbs were the first nation to revolt against the turks, BY 100% THEIR own means. Their guns/weapons, their ORGANIZED army. We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence. Serbs had a military industry many years before the west recognized them.... It took 70 (seventy) years for Serbia to be recognized by the west... Greece??? lol only 9!!!!! (nine)
Also what "turkish agents" are you talking about?? Whoever they were, the British navy took good care of them (lol!!!). Face it man, THE WEST CREATED US. Time to look history with a clean eye, for funks sake.

PS2
IIRC Serbia is a country you share nothing with, a country you have spent less than than 1 day in total, and also never really liked. Why you keep writing here?

Greece joined the original support mechanism provided by the Euro Area’s member states and the IMF in May 2010. That was before the European institutions such as the EFSF were created. A basic assumption of the original program was that a very steep fiscal adjustment effort until mid-2013 would be possible and that could make Greece return to the markets already from mid-2012.

Almost a year later, in March 2011, there was a realization that the programme parameters were too strict and the European Council decided that the original terms of the loan to Greece had to be significantly improved both in terms of the repayment period and in terms of the interest rate. The IMF is also expected to extend the maturities of the Greek loan to allow for a longer time for the reforms being implemented to have an impact on competitiveness. Ireland and Portugal also benefited from these changes and had a smoother start in their programmes.

It is already questionable whether the original program could provide for a credible answer to Greece’s sovereign debt sustainability. With the exception of the first programme review, in all subsequent reviews the question was constantly arising of whether Greece has the national capacity to implement such a fast radical reform and steep fiscal adjustment program that would change the country’s basic structures and practices.

Many difficult things have been done in these months of the programme implementation. First, a fast decline in the fiscal deficit by 5 percentage points of GDP in the first year of the programme application. Very significant reforms like the pension reform that reduced the actuarial deficit by about ten percentage points of GDP, a labour market reform that increased significantly allowed dismissals, reduced severance payments to half, increased three times the probation period for new recruitments, made plant level agreements to prevail over those at sectoral level. A large number of closed professions opened. Many other important changes took place.

These changes are absolutely necessary for our nation’s future.

Greece agreed to promote a very ambitious privatizations program, aiming at collecting 28 billion euro in revenues before the end of 2014 at a time that the capitalization of the Greek stock exchange has been greatly reduced.

The June/July 2011 review was not an easy task, as this was linked to the decision of our institutional partners to double their support, by adding another additional 109 billion euro and extend the duration of the program to 2014.

But the most important element of the July 21 decision was the participation of the private sector. This was a result of a comprehensive and complex negotiation between the Euro Working Group and the IIF, with the important contribution of IIF’s Chairman, Mr. Joseph Ackermann and its Managing Director, Mr. Charles Dallara.

The PSI became an important pillar of the July 21 decisions, equally important to that of the official sector participation.

However, the July decisions provided also for an expanded role for the EFSF, a prelude to the permanent ESM mechanism from 2013. This is a fundamental decision of the Euro Area, not only for the protection and facilitation of Greece, but also for the decongestion of the pressure applied on the Euro’s hard core.

From July 21 to the start of the fifth revision of the program that started at the end of August there was a time gap of less than thirty days during which Greece was trying, with its existing structural problems and weak public administration to articulate and implement the Medium Term Fiscal Adjustment programme that had been decided. Therefore, there were no new problems. What we had here were the already known difficulties including the peculiarities of the Greek political system, the absence of wider political consensus towards the need for a full and rapid implementation of the program, contrary to what takes place in Portugal and Ireland.

But despite all that some positive signs of political consensus do exist in the case of privatizations and the EFSF’s new institutional framework, which were voted with a majority of more than two thirds by the Greek Parliament.

My Dear Leonidas,
i guess i am the first "Albanian" who

1) Loves Serbs so much
2) Has an idea of how to make the Greek nation truly Greek, and center our identity around the best of Greeks (Crete, Cyprus)
3) Is an albanian and bulgarian at the same time.

Leonida,
in order for greek nation to survive (very hard i must warn you)
we must pull out the hatred from our hearts.

Your act to call me an albanian, just because you didn't like, and could not argue against what i wrote, is a clear sign that your motives are egoism, hatred and stupidity, the reasons why greeks are so backward.

@Danilo:

"Well. Looks like the Greeks have (at least you do) the same problem that other Balkans peoples have - they love to blame everyone but themselves for their own problems.


Greece lied about its solvency and borrowed money illegally. If it were a person, it would be in jail for lying on a loan application."

LOL, Danilo in which space/time dimension do you live?

GREECE WAS FORCED TO TAKE THE LOANS. Eurostat KNEW exactly what was going on in greek-stat service, since the late 80s... I was a computer programmer there in the early-mid 90s.

Jesus, ppl, let's not be so naive.

EU “won’t let Greece default” on the wrong moment creating effectul domino.ITS A POLITICAL CRISIS WITH ECONOMICAL EXTENSION.GREECE is changing economic political military block, they are not going to participate in E.U. in form like U.S.A.central goverment in washington/berlin and all the other europe province with no voice ....goodbye with little help from our friends (their enemies)

@pyross

ya. too bad all those mean banks forced Greece to borrow all that money.

Unfortunately Greece has no alternative but bowing before thy great meister's.

@Danilo, @Dragan

What happened in Greece the last 20+ years, pretty much looks like what happened in yugoslavia 1945-1990.

Yugoslavia, had a real economy based on agriculture and industry, but also was (relatively) inflated, because through loans, at times it was pumped up to look stronger than traditionally stronger economies like Romania/Hungary. Also the standard of living in Yugoslavia was a little bit higher than it really deserved. The west managed to fill Yugoslavia with loans (i believe some 20B total) until it became non-operational, and then the west destroyed it and took for free some of its republiks (BiH/Croatia two striking examples)

Now Greece, is a little different story, because mainly, we are a creation of the west. West created us in 1821-1830 in the same manner that they tried to create Kosovo 1999-2008 (it seems that it takes them 9 years fixed time to create a country, from revolution to recognition). However the similarities are there.
Greece had a "banking" economy, that means our heavy industry were the banks. Nothing impressive in agriculture or industry. Now the west (after destroying yugoslavia) chose to make their creation and protectorate the new "safe" centers of the balkans. Pumped Greece with over 100B of "euro funds" and more than 300B loans, in order to boost the most "western", "democratic", "ancient" "prototype" "model" country of the balkans, in front of which all the rest of the slavic countries should bow and declare obedience to the western democratic/ancient values.
Moreover, certain western circles, 2 years ago, presented the Greek banks as the ONLY ones withstanding the global crisis!!! LOL, and Greece being the most stable european economy !!!
That was the story till 1 year ago. Then suddenly they remembered that Greece has loans, is ineffective, is slowm is corrupted, etc...

want my frank view????

Of course Greece has always been corrupted, family-controlled, without any notion of true antagonism, progressiveness, without the slightest sense of organization even at crucial fields as education or public health. We were BY FAR the worse organized country in the balkans, FAR BELOW ex-YUGOSLAVIA and BULGARIA... pre-communism, during communism and post communism.

BUT, and this is a great BUT,

the west KNEW very well what they were doing and who they were giving the money. The fact that some greeks are total opportunists that does not excuse the western lies-plot in the slightest.
If the west really cared for the well-being of Greeks, they should not spoil us in the first place. They should teach us some organization, some basic knowledge of economy

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)

"The west managed to fill Yugoslavia with loans"

How dare they loan all that money.

"Pumped Greece"

Well. Looks like the Greeks have (at least you do) the same problem that other Balkans peoples have - they love to blame everyone but themselves for their own problems.


Greece lied about its solvency and borrowed money illegally. If it were a person, it would be in jail for lying on a loan application.

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)
(Pyrros, 4 October 2011 16:10)

Do you really think that any poster is going to take notice of the nonsense than an Albanian is uttering against Greece?To start with you wrote:
"Now Greece, is a little different story, because mainly, we are a creation of the west. West created us in 1821-1830 in the same manner that they tried to create Kosovo 1999-2008".

Your position is exactly the same as that of our northern Bulgarian speaking neighbours.Kosovo was carved from Serbia but which country was Greece carved from?The Ottoman empire? Do you know how many independent countries were in Europe at the height of the Greek revolution in 1821?

That is the myth of "the annexation" of Macedonia to the Greek state.The Greeks won what was rightfully"theirs" on the battlefield against the forces of the Ottoman empire and their agents.The same could be said about the kingdom of Serbs that "annexed" today's fyrom the land they subsequently dubbed Vardaska Banovina.

Pyrros said :Greece had a "banking" economy, that means our heavy industry were the banks. Nothing impressive in agriculture or industry.

This is because you probably haven't been in Western supermarkets and you haven't seen how many Greek agricultural products are stacked on their shelves.Take a trip to France,Germany,UK and you'll see what I am talking about.

Pyrros wrote "Pumped Greece with over 100B of "euro funds" and more than 300B loans, in order to boost the most "western", "democratic", "ancient" "prototype" "model" country of the balkans, in front of which all the rest of the slavic countries should bow and declare obedience to the western democratic/ancient values"

I don't know the source of the numbers you're quoting from but what I am certain of is that more than half of the Greek debt is owned by Greek banks,pension funds and insurance companies.

The second part of your paragraph is pure nonsense because if you really believe that how do you explain the 3.5 trillion Euros poured into Italy,Spain, Portugal and Ireland?

Pyrros wrote "Of course Greece has always been corrupted, family-controlled, without any notion of true antagonism, progressiveness, without the slightest sense of organization even at crucial fields as education or public health. We were BY FAR the worse organized country in the balkans, FAR BELOW ex-YUGOSLAVIA and BULGARIA... pre-communism, during communism and post communism.

Corruption is not the prerogative of Greece.Western capitalism thrives on corruption. Look at Germany, Ziemens has been found guilty of paying 8.5 billion in bribes to politicians in 78 countries.Having said that I don't try to condone corruption in Greece and the problem is that nobody seems to be convicted and jailed.Corruption in Bulgaria?Why do you think Bulgaria is not allowed to join Shenghen?

Now am I trying to paint a beautiful picture of Greece here? Not at all.Greece is deep in the S..t and I don't think is going to get out easily-if is going to get out at all- and not with the same politicians in charge.

As Einstein used to say "if you continue to do the same thing with the same people and expect a different result is called insanity".

There can be an optimism for the completion of the relevant processes in all member states, since the decisions of July 21 are of vital importance for the euro and the euro area. There is a connection between the result of the vote in the German Parliament with the fact that Greece has sent a very clear and decisive message at an international level that it meets its obligations that stem from the support mechanism. Those are not obligations towards the trojka, Greece’s institutional partners and creditors, but towards the country itself and most of all towards its young generation.

The title of this article is false and misleading. It should read 'EU won't let French and German banks default'. Let's be honest here, they are not bailing out Greece, but they are simply bailing out their own banks who are on the hook for billions in bad loans.
The unelected EU slave masters are dictating to Greece how to live their lives, how to tax their citizens, when their retirement age should be, and how many coffee breaks they are allowed each day. It's pretty sickening what is going on. I really hope Greece wakes up and pulls themselves out the Eurozone, and brings back the Drachma. This way they will be free to make their own decisions.

The title of this article is false and misleading. It should read 'EU won't let French and German banks default'. Let's be honest here, they are not bailing out Greece, but they are simply bailing out their own banks who are on the hook for billions in bad loans.

Dragan


You're right Dragan.Ever wondered how a cash injection of 109Billion euros into a relatively small economy like the Greek one could lead to austerity measures?

The reason is that the cash is funnelled from the taxpayers of Germany, or Europe,straight to the banks. That's right, the banks, who are more culpable than the Greek people in creating this crisis. But the banks never lose. The taxpayer covers their losses, just as the taxpayer never gets to share in their profits.

As far as Greece's potential default is concerned I can't see Greece defaulting yet - the costs are too high- even though any loans haircut will be regarded as such .The real crisis will come if Portugal, or especially Spain or Italy get themselves into the same position. At that point the Eurozone won't be sustainable, and then all bets are off.

Within the current international and European context, the Greek problem is undoubtedly significant, most of all for us the Greeks. However, Greece is not the Euro Area’s central problem nor it can be the catalyst for a new phase of the global financial crisis. The size of the Greek economy does not allow for such a role.

The problem of sovereign debt in the Euro Area is of vital importance, and the fact that three of the 17 member-states have joined the support mechanisms, provided by the Euro Area itself and the IMF, shows that Europe has made very important steps towards dealing with the problem.

However, these three countries (Greece, Ireland, and Portugal) account for merely 6% of the Euro Area’s total debt. Greece alone accounts for about 3% of the Euro Area’s total public debt. While such a debt is very high for Greece, it may not still be capable of causing a domino effect of pan-European dimensions.

Those who do know Greece not just as macro-economic and fiscal figures, know that Greece is charming not only because of its history but also because of its contradictions. Despite the crisis and the three successive years of recession, Greece remains one of the 30 largest global economies with a population of only 11 million. Greek tourism and its shipping sector are always two strong brand names. This year, while in full recession, we saw a fast increase in exports albeit starting from a relatively small basis.

However, Greece at the same time has a large-scale grey economy, extended tax-evasion, a large current account deficit and a similarly large deficit in competitiveness.

EU “won’t let Greece default” on the wrong moment creating effectul domino.ITS A POLITICAL CRISIS WITH ECONOMICAL EXTENSION.GREECE is changing economic political military block, they are not going to participate in E.U. in form like U.S.A.central goverment in washington/berlin and all the other europe province with no voice ....goodbye with little help from our friends (their enemies)

Greece joined the original support mechanism provided by the Euro Area’s member states and the IMF in May 2010. That was before the European institutions such as the EFSF were created. A basic assumption of the original program was that a very steep fiscal adjustment effort until mid-2013 would be possible and that could make Greece return to the markets already from mid-2012.

Almost a year later, in March 2011, there was a realization that the programme parameters were too strict and the European Council decided that the original terms of the loan to Greece had to be significantly improved both in terms of the repayment period and in terms of the interest rate. The IMF is also expected to extend the maturities of the Greek loan to allow for a longer time for the reforms being implemented to have an impact on competitiveness. Ireland and Portugal also benefited from these changes and had a smoother start in their programmes.

It is already questionable whether the original program could provide for a credible answer to Greece’s sovereign debt sustainability. With the exception of the first programme review, in all subsequent reviews the question was constantly arising of whether Greece has the national capacity to implement such a fast radical reform and steep fiscal adjustment program that would change the country’s basic structures and practices.

Many difficult things have been done in these months of the programme implementation. First, a fast decline in the fiscal deficit by 5 percentage points of GDP in the first year of the programme application. Very significant reforms like the pension reform that reduced the actuarial deficit by about ten percentage points of GDP, a labour market reform that increased significantly allowed dismissals, reduced severance payments to half, increased three times the probation period for new recruitments, made plant level agreements to prevail over those at sectoral level. A large number of closed professions opened. Many other important changes took place.

These changes are absolutely necessary for our nation’s future.

Greece agreed to promote a very ambitious privatizations program, aiming at collecting 28 billion euro in revenues before the end of 2014 at a time that the capitalization of the Greek stock exchange has been greatly reduced.

The June/July 2011 review was not an easy task, as this was linked to the decision of our institutional partners to double their support, by adding another additional 109 billion euro and extend the duration of the program to 2014.

But the most important element of the July 21 decision was the participation of the private sector. This was a result of a comprehensive and complex negotiation between the Euro Working Group and the IIF, with the important contribution of IIF’s Chairman, Mr. Joseph Ackermann and its Managing Director, Mr. Charles Dallara.

The PSI became an important pillar of the July 21 decisions, equally important to that of the official sector participation.

However, the July decisions provided also for an expanded role for the EFSF, a prelude to the permanent ESM mechanism from 2013. This is a fundamental decision of the Euro Area, not only for the protection and facilitation of Greece, but also for the decongestion of the pressure applied on the Euro’s hard core.

From July 21 to the start of the fifth revision of the program that started at the end of August there was a time gap of less than thirty days during which Greece was trying, with its existing structural problems and weak public administration to articulate and implement the Medium Term Fiscal Adjustment programme that had been decided. Therefore, there were no new problems. What we had here were the already known difficulties including the peculiarities of the Greek political system, the absence of wider political consensus towards the need for a full and rapid implementation of the program, contrary to what takes place in Portugal and Ireland.

But despite all that some positive signs of political consensus do exist in the case of privatizations and the EFSF’s new institutional framework, which were voted with a majority of more than two thirds by the Greek Parliament.

My Dear Leonidas,
i guess i am the first "Albanian" who

1) Loves Serbs so much
2) Has an idea of how to make the Greek nation truly Greek, and center our identity around the best of Greeks (Crete, Cyprus)
3) Is an albanian and bulgarian at the same time.

Leonida,
in order for greek nation to survive (very hard i must warn you)
we must pull out the hatred from our hearts.

Your act to call me an albanian, just because you didn't like, and could not argue against what i wrote, is a clear sign that your motives are egoism, hatred and stupidity, the reasons why greeks are so backward.

@Danilo:

"Well. Looks like the Greeks have (at least you do) the same problem that other Balkans peoples have - they love to blame everyone but themselves for their own problems.


Greece lied about its solvency and borrowed money illegally. If it were a person, it would be in jail for lying on a loan application."

LOL, Danilo in which space/time dimension do you live?

GREECE WAS FORCED TO TAKE THE LOANS. Eurostat KNEW exactly what was going on in greek-stat service, since the late 80s... I was a computer programmer there in the early-mid 90s.

Jesus, ppl, let's not be so naive.

@ Leonidas,

and something else, lets see who will be the real greek among us, when the bombs start to fall above our heads. Lets see who will be the real patriot then.

Sitting in front of your computer and writing in a Serb forum will not make you a better greek.

PS1
Serbs were the first nation to revolt against the turks, BY 100% THEIR own means. Their guns/weapons, their ORGANIZED army. We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence. Serbs had a military industry many years before the west recognized them.... It took 70 (seventy) years for Serbia to be recognized by the west... Greece??? lol only 9!!!!! (nine)
Also what "turkish agents" are you talking about?? Whoever they were, the British navy took good care of them (lol!!!). Face it man, THE WEST CREATED US. Time to look history with a clean eye, for funks sake.

PS2
IIRC Serbia is a country you share nothing with, a country you have spent less than than 1 day in total, and also never really liked. Why you keep writing here?

We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence.

Pyrros


This statement shows clearly that you haven't got a clue on contemporary Greek history.I take great offence with your comment because my great-grandfather lost his life in Yanitsa fighting the Turks 100 years ago and so did thousands of Greeks in the war of liberation.But you wouldn'u know, would you?

We Greeks didn't even had an army when the hordes of the western volunteers *stormed* Greece to "fight" for its independence.

Pyrros


This statement shows clearly that you haven't got a clue on contemporary Greek history.I take great offence with your comment because my great-grandfather lost his life in Yanitsa fighting the Turks 100 years ago and so did thousands of Greeks in the war of liberation.But you wouldn'u know, would you?
(Leonidas, 5 October 2011 12:10)
An albanian pretending to be greek gives himself away faster than a cat trying to bark.

the west KNEW very well what they were doing and who they were giving the money. The fact that some greeks are total opportunists that does not excuse the western lies-plot in the slightest.
If the west really cared for the well-being of Greeks, they should not spoil us in the first place. They should teach us some organization, some basic knowledge of economy

Now, guys, i hope you kept notes, cause you are not gonna find such an analysis like this anywhere else ;)
(Pyrros, 4 October 2011 16:10)


Pyrros,

You are correct on one point, I doubt we will ever read an analysis such as yours, however, I would not recommend anyone take notes.

Your analysis is analogous to a child blaming an adult for buying him an ice cream cone after the child has soiled his clothing with the ice cream.