02-28-2017, 12:12 AM
The European commission wants Greece off the political agenda before elections in the Netherlands next month: that much is clear at the end of a turbulent week of claim and counter-claim that appears to be ending in yet another messy compromise. Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos dashed to Brussels last Friday to hear about a deal that appears to delay any punishment for Athens’s lack of reforming zeal until next year, when the Dutch, French, German and possibly Italian elections will be out of the way. To call it a sticking plaster would be to do disrespect to the healing powers of the humble Elastoplast.
Half a decade on from the first rescue, the economy has now shrunk by 27pc, close to the 32pc drop in output in the US in the Great Depression (which, it is worth noting, had bounced back strongly six years later). Unemployment now stands at more than 25pc of the workforce and double that for young people. Of the 10 EU regions with the highest unemployment rate, four are in Greece. The economy shrank by another 0.6pc in the latest quarter, and the debt-to-GDP ratio has climbed above 180pc, at which point there is no hope of it ever being repaid.
Britain must back the IMF to free Greece of its punishing austerity
It's been seven years since the outbreak of the Greek debt crisis, yet Greece -- the country that gave birth to democracy -- is still stuck in a vicious cycle of debt, austerity and high unemployment. Three consecutive bailout programs have deprived the nation of its fiscal sovereignty, transferred many of its publicly owned assets and resources into private hands (virtually all of foreign origin), produced the collapse of the public health care system, slashed wages, salaries and pensions by as much as 50 percent, and led to a massive exodus of its skilled and educated labor force. As for democracy, it has been seriously constrained since the moment the first bailout went into effect, back in May 2010, as all governments that have come to power have pledged allegiance to the international actors and agencies behind the bailout plans -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- and follow closely and obediently their commands, irrespective of the needs and wishes of the Greek people.
Greece Under Continuous Siege: Syriza's Disastrous Political Stance