Schäuble’s high security visit provokes Greek anger
Greeks should stop lobbying for more debt relief, Wolfgang Schäuble said on his visit to Athens yesterday that forced a lockdown of the city centre and a ban on protests,
Reuters reports. "I would like to ask all of you not to continue at this time this discussion on a new haircut,” he said at an event with the Greek Chamber of Commerce. "It is not in your interest." Official lenders like the euro zone and IMF now hold more than 90% of Greece's debt. That means the burden of any further debt relief - which Athens hopes will ensue once it hits its financial targets this year - will fall on euro zone states.
"There is still a lot to be done. A lot of effort is being made and the tough reforms are hitting a lot of people in Greece hard - you have to have a lot of respect for that." That has failed to impress Greeks, who blame Germany's insistence on fiscal rigour for record unemployment of 27% and plummeting living standards that have driven up suicides and stoked near-daily protests and strikes. "Hail, Schäuble!" the leftist Avgi newspaper screamed on its front page on Thursday. "The moribund salute you," it wrote above a stern-looking photograph of the minister.
Authorities closed off most of the city centre including Syntagma Square before parliament. Some 3,500 police were deployed in the streets of Athens, while another 3,000 were on standby. Demonstrations and groups of more than three people holding banners and shouting slogans were also banned from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time. Central metro stations were shut.
The radical leftist Syriza opposition party denounced the ban as a "coup-like" move. "Who is Mr Schäuble for you to prohibit Greek citizens from protesting against austerity?" asked Panagiotis Lafazanis, a lawmaker from Syriza. "You are governing the country like a protectorate, a banana republic."
KT Greece characterised the meeting thus:
“German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble arrived in Athens on Thursday morning. Like a modern emperor. he will hold meetings with the political leadership of the occupied territories. He will meet almost everybody responsible for the implementation of the austerity program and the execution of the highest orders.”
The blog also remarked that Schäuble’s present, a €100m investment deal for financing SMEs is peanuts for which Schäuble troubled four million Athenians with severe security measures and extra costs.
FAZ noted that Schäuble politely applauded Greece’s achievements while marking his differences with the host at the same time. The article quotes extensively from his 10-min speech, where he talked about Germany’s long and painful way before the country became the growth engine of Europe.
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/07/19/ger-schaeuble-goes-us-lew-comes/
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble left Athens on Thursday after an intense visit: three interviews, five appointments, one conference, one working lunch. All these in just eight hours. He came, saw and conquered. Not the hearts of the citizens of besieged Greece but the hearts of the German taxpayers and voters. He made it clear, that he opposes the idea of a second debt restructure.
Schaeuble – Stournaras
The charming gentleman -who media stressed to have captured him ‘laughing’ -brought to locals a bag with 100 million euro to be distributed in form of investment funds. A contemporary replacement of the usual gifts to the natives: pieces of broke mirrors and fake pearls.
After a stressful Thursday, the Greek government has two days to recover from the German inspection. On Sunday U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will visit Athens to discuss the euro zone country’s economic reforms and Europe’s policies to support recovery, the Treasury said on Wednesday. Lew will meet with the prime minister and the finance minister.
Lew’s visit comes before Prime Minister Antonis Samaras meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on August 8.
I suppose after these important comings and goings full of positive messages and express of support, we can all go to summer vacation in the nearest city beach. The autumn is expected to be as hard and as troublesome as possible.
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/07/19/merkel-warns-another-greek-debt-haircut-would-destabilize-the-euro-zone/
OK, the Germans repeat it once per day until we consolidate their policy: no second debt write down. A second debt restructure could cause trouble to recent stabilization of the euro zone area, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. A day after her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed the same opposition while visiting Athens.
Merkel in Warning Over Another Greek Debt Haircut
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is warning that a second debt writedown for Greece could undo much of the recent work done to stabilize the euro area.
Merkel’s comments Friday came a day after her finance minister visited Athens and told a Greek audience that it’s not in the country’s interests to seek a second write-off, or “haircut,” following last year’s debt restructuring with private-sector bondholders.
Merkel pointed to the possible consequences of another writedown in the 17-country eurozone and the danger that others might seek a similar deal. Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus have also received bailouts.
She said another debt relief deal “could lead to such massive uncertainty among all investors in the eurozone that everything we have done in recent years would again be in question. (AP via ABCNews)
MPs approve bill for new public broadcaster, hirings to start
Legislation paving the way for a new public broadcaster to be created after the government shut down ERT last month, was voted through Parliament on Friday, with the minister in charge pledging to create a service that would be free from political intervention.
“We have a marathon task ahead of us that will require a change of attitude,” said Deputy Culture Minister Pantelis Kapsis, who was given the task in last month’s cabinet reshuffle of setting up the new broadcaster. “That is why I am sending an honest invitation for you to participate in this process,” he told opposition parties, who voted against the bill to create a new broadcaster, to be known as NERIT.
All of the government’s 155 MPs supported the legislation despite several lawmakers expressing qualms earlier in the day. The bill did not receive any other support in the 300-seat House.
Kapsis said he envisioned the creation of a truly independent service. ERT had been criticized both for enjoying cosy relationships with Greek governments and for being beholden to leftist labor unions. “My vision is that some day a minister will call the head of news [at the new broadcaster] and will have the phone put down on him,” he told MPs.
The new legislation foresees the government appointing a supervisory council, which will be responsible for appointing the new broadcaster’s executive board. The council will serve only a one-year term.
The deputy minister said that he would stick by his commitment to hire as many as 2,000 of ERT’s employees to set up the new service on short-term contracts. An announcement for 580 positions on rolling two-month contracts is due to be made on Monday.
The government’s decision to shut down ERT on June 11 and fire its employees – numbering some 2,600 – proved a controversial decision and led to Democratic Left walking out of what was then a three-party coalition. The intense debate over the government’s handling of the matter continued yesterday ahead of the vote on the NERIT bill.
SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras accused the government of an “unconstitutional and undemocratic” action and said that the “hard core of the [Antonis] Samaras government despises democracy.” He also questioned whether Kapsis, a former managing director at Lambrakis Press, which owns 22 percent of private TV channel Mega, was the appropriate person to lead the new public broadcaster.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
ekathimerini.com , Friday Jul 19, 2013 (21:56)
Fresh tension after health minister’s hospital visit
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis claimed on Friday that he was punched in the face and subjected to chants about the Civil War when he visited Attiko Hospital in Athens on Friday to meet with staff and management.
Georgiadis, who has made a number of visits to public hospitals in Athens since taking on his job in the recent reshuffle, was greeted by a small but angry crowd protesting healthcare cuts when he arrived at the hospital. Police had advised the minister to use the rear entrance but he refused. A cup of coffee was thrown toward Georgiadis, who claims that he was then punched as he attempted to speak with protesters and had to be escorted into the hospital by riot police.
The minister alleged that some protesters chanted about Meligalas, a town in the Peloponnese where communist forces defeated collaborationist security battalions in 1944, leaving more than 700 people dead, including many who were executed. Georgiadis referred to the protesters as “a bunch of fascists” and suggested they were supporters of the anti-capitalist party ANTARSYA.
The incident was condemned by the hospital’s management, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou, PASOK and Democratic Left. “Such actions undermine social dialogue, target democratic institutions and debase public life,” said PASOK.
Kedikoglou repeated the claim about the Meligalas chant in Parliament but SYRIZA’s Nikos Voutsis questioned the veracity of the accusation, saying the government spokesman was “fanning the flames.”
The hospital workers’ union slammed the presence of riot police in the hospital, calling it an “unprecedented invasion.” It said Georgiadis was a persona non grata, accusing him of “undermining public health” by closing hospitals and firing staff.
The incident overshadowed the wider problems facing the health sector such as staff shortages, unpaid salaries and deteriorating working conditions. Georgiadis has proposed transferring 1,250 hospital staff to other positions and turning several hospitals into health centers that offer limited services. So far, he has not commented on paying doctors, who are owed between 1,500 and 7,000 euros each in unpaid wages. |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
