Meanwhile, the long awaited debt deal with creditors to avoid a possible default this summer was still sought with no clear light on the horizon.
Last Wednesday Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that the negotiations which started in February over the conditions of the release of further vital aid to Athens have entered the final stretch and an agreement was close at hand.
- Greek cabinet ministers added in public statements that the deal would most likely be reached by the end of this weekend.
As the dialogue continues on all levels- technical and political- over the past few days with no concrete result yet in sight and scenarios of a looming credit event have intensified, the Greek government faced in addition a serious "domestic spat."
The choice of economist Elena Panaritis to become Greece's new representative to the IMF in late June has caused strong reactions by opposition parties, but also SYRIZA prominent members and MPs.
Panaritis has worked at the World Bank and has served as an MP for the socialist PASOK party (2009-2012) before becoming a close advisor to current Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and taking up a leading role until recently in negotiations with creditors this year.
Panaritis was a personal choice of Varoufakis and did not receive a warm welcome by other key cabinet ministers long before the announcement on her appointment by the Finance Ministry, according to Greek media reports.
The official press release triggered a wave of mounting reactions in social media over the past few hours. MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis called on Tsipras to review her appointment. His tweet was retweeted by State Minister Nikos Pappas. SYRIZA Parliamentary spokesman Nikos Filis also expressed strong reservations in his Facebook account.
A group of about 40 SYRIZA deputies (out of a total of 149 MPs) issued a joint statement expressing surprise and dismay over the choice of a "person who in the past backed bailout policies" for the post. They also asked the Premier to reconsider.
Amidst the complaints against Panaritis and subsequently Finance Minister Varoufakis dispelled once again on Sunday scenarios over his imminent resignation through his Twitter account.
"Rumors of my impending resignation are (for the umpteenth time) grossly premature...," Varoufakis tweeted.
- When asked whether he implied that he would step down later, he replied: "In the long run we are all dead," quoting J.M.Keynes.
Xinhua - china.org.cn
1/6/15
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Tsipras gibt Gläubigern Schuld an Stillstand: "Dem Neoliberalismus geopfert" ...
ReplyDeleteDer griechische Ministerpräsident Tsipras sieht sein Land als Opfer des Neoliberalismus. Obwohl Griechenland Reformvorschläge gemacht habe, hielten seine Gläubiger "besessen" am Sparkurs fest. Im Kanzleramt dürfte das heute Abend für Kopfschütteln sorgen - wieder einmal.
Der Neoliberalismus ist Schuld. Zumindest daran, dass es nicht voran geht mit den Verhandlungen über ein griechisches Reformprogramm. So jedenfalls sieht es Griechenlands Ministerpräsident Alexis Tsipras. In einem Gastbeitrag für die französische Zeitung "Le Monde" schrieb er: Alle Länder, die der Macht der Neoliberalen nicht nachgeben wollten, sollten demnach "hart bestraft werden." Sein Land habe, anders als behauptet, reihenweise Reformvorschläge unterbreitet, die mehr Steuern eingebracht hätten. So seien eine Reihe von Privatisierungen beschlossen worden, die seine Syriza-Partei ursprünglich abgelehnt habe............http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/griechenland-grexit-103.html
1/6/15
Greek PM admits 'minor' concessions in bailout talks...
ReplyDeleteAmid intense negotiations in Brussels with the Eurogroup which continued all weekend, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has admitted to making “minor modifications” on privatizations in the ongoing bailout negotiations with international creditors.
Tsipras remarks come after Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis said Saturday that Greece would accept a bailout agreement, even if it was a “painful” solution.
In an article published in the French daily Le Monde Monday, Tsipras said: "The lack of an agreement so far is not due to the supposed intransigent, uncompromising and incomprehensible Greek stance. It is due to the insistence of certain institutional actors on submitting absurd proposals and displaying a total indifference to the recent democratic choice of the Greek people, despite the public admission of the three institutions that necessary flexibility will be provided in order to respect the popular verdict".
He admitted to having made some concessions. Regarding privatizations, a previous sticking point in the negotiations, he said: "Privatizations have been promoted by the institutions that neither created growth perspectives nor transfer of funds to the real economy and the unsustainable debt”.
The Greek premier added, “We accepted to move forward, with some minor modifications, on privatizations to prove our intention of taking steps towards approaching the other side.
“We also agreed to implement a major VAT [Value Added Tax] reform by simplifying the system and reinforcing the redistributive dimension of the tax in order to achieve an increase in both collection and revenues,” he said.
As Greece runs out of funds, Tsipras continues to work hard to undo the deadlock that the Greek negotiating team seems to have hit with the institutional creditors -- the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the EU.............http://www.aa.com.tr/en/rss/520160--greek-pm-admits-minor-concessions-in-bailout-talks
1/6/15
Την απόφαση της να μην δεχθεί το διορισμό της στη θέση της εκπροσώπου της Ελλάδας στο ΔΝΤ ανακοίνωσε η Έλενα Παναρίτη, μετά τη θύελλα των αντιδράσεων που έχει ξεσπάσει...
ReplyDelete«Καθώς ποτέ δεν ζήτησα αυτή την θέση, και δεδομένου ότι την αποδέχθηκα αποκλειστικά για να βοηθήσω την κυβέρνηση με την εμπειρία μου στον τρόπο λειτουργίας του ΔΝΤ [και αντίστοιχων οργανισμών], μου είναι αδύνατον να δεχθώ τον διορισμό μου εν μέσω των αρνητικών αντιδράσεων από βουλευτές και στελέχη του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ» αναφέρεται χαρακτηριστικά στη δήλωση της κ. Παναρίτη....crashonline.gr
1/6/15