MISSEDLINK

Greek Rescue Plan - Jacques Delors: LINK ¤ FINANCIAL TIMES

_________________________________________

• "both sides must move past tactical games, writes Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995:"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it is a process that has spawned much political posturing and tactical games which have led to a breakdown in trust"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it is now crucial that both sides put this behind them and recognise the importance of what is at stake for both Greece and Europe"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this Greek tragedy is not merely a national issue"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it is having, and will continue to have, an impact on the whole of Europe, of which Greece is an integral part in both historical and geographical terms"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the EU must play its part to the full in that reconstruction process by offering Greece"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

a comprehensive three-pronged plan:

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this should consist of offering Athens reasonable financial aid in order to allow it to rebuild its solvency in the short term"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "second, mobilising all those EU instruments - structural and cohesion funds, loans and so on"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that can help to revive the Greek economy and in turn lighten the country’s debt burden in relation to gross domestic product"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and third, immediately undertake an reassessment of the weight of Greek debt"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "only a comprehensive plan of this nature is capable of providing the Greek people and their authorities with prospects for hope and mobilisation"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and thus of getting them to put their heart and mind into the effort for reconstruction which the country so badly needs"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and from which the EU as a whole will benefit"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Greece needs mass Debt Relief now - Telegraph: LINK ¤ TELEGRAPH

_________________________________________

• "the International Monetary Fund lit the touch paper on a subject that has inflamed tensions between Greece and its international lenders:"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "debt relief"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greece needs massive debt relief, admits IMF"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "without a major effort to write off € 330bn in loans"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the battered economy would remain a financial black-hole for its creditors"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "locked out of financial markets and ever-reliant on its paymasters to stop it from going bust"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greece would never prosper until it is unburdened from a large portion of its crippling debt weight"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

• "the IMF's intervention was a remarkable public admission that more debt and more austerity would lead Greece to the path of economic ruin"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "after months in which European leaders have sought to kick the issue into the long grass, restructuring is now firmly part of the Greek conversation again"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "former IMF bail-out chief Ashoka Mody said the analysis further exposed"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that lenders had not been "negotiating in good faith" with Greece"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "by refusing to countenance debt relief over the last five months"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Mr. Mody supports a bolder programme of debt forgiveness"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "which would wipe out 50pc of Greece’s liabilities (50%)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Joseph Stiglitz: Power and Democracy - the Guardian: LINK ¤ the GUARDIAN

_________________________________________

• "the endgame playing out between Greece and its creditors:"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it is about power and democracy much more than money and economics"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the economics behind the programme that the "troika" (the European commission, the European central bank, and the IMF) foisted on Greece five years ago has been abysmal"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "resulting in a 25% decline in the country’s GDP"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the consequences: Greece’s rate of youth unemployment, for example, now exceeds 60%"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it is startling that the troika has refused to accept responsibility for any of this or admit how bad its forecasts and models have been"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but what is even more surprising is that Europe’s leaders have not even learned"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the troika is still demanding that Greece achieve a primary budget surplus of 3.5% of GDP by 2018"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

• "economists around the world have condemned that target as punitive"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "because aiming for it will inevitably result in a deeper downturn"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "in terms of transforming a large primary deficit into a surplus, few countries have accomplished anything like what the Greeks have achieved in the last five years"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and, though the cost in terms of human suffering has been extremely high, the Greek Government’s recent proposals went a long way toward meeting its creditors’ demands"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "we should be clear:"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "almost none of the huge amount of money loaned to Greece has actually gone there"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

• "it has gone to pay out private-sector creditors"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "including German and French banks"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greece has gotten but a pittance, but it has paid a high price to preserve these countries’ banking systems"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but, again, it’s not about the money"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it’s about using "deadlines" to force Greece to knuckle under"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and to accept the unacceptable - not only austerity measures, but also other regressive and punitive policies"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

• "but why would Europe do this ? - isn’t Europe all about democracy ?"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "in January, Greece’s citizens voted for a Government committed to ending austerity"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "if the Government were simply fulfilling its campaign promises, it would already have rejected the proposal"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but it wanted to give Greeks a chance to weigh in on this issue, so critical for their country’s future wellbeing"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that concern for popular legitimacy is incompatible with the politics of the eurozone, which was never a very democratic project"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the ECB focused single-mindedly on inflation (what have done so much to increase inequality in so many advanced countries)"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the economy would suffer, because the economic model underlying the eurozone was predicated on power relationships that disadvantaged workers"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

• "and, sure enough, what we are seeing now, 16 years after the eurozone institutionalised those relationships, is the antithesis of democracy:"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "many European leaders want to see the end of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist government"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they seem to believe that they can eventually bring down the Greek Government by bullying it into accepting an agreement that contravenes its mandate"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a "no" vote would open the possibility that Greece, with its strong democratic tradition"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "might grasp its destiny in its own hands"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greeks might gain the opportunity to shape a future, that is far more hopeful than the unconscionable torture of the present"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Referendum on Austerity Measures by Troika - the Guardian: LINK ¤ the GUARDIAN

_________________________________________

• "Eurozone leaders sought to exploit pictures of cashpoint queues to stress what was at stake if Greeks supported the decision of their Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to reject the fresh austerity measures being demanded by the country’s creditors"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Tsipras used a TV address to ask the public to back his resistance to a new round of tough tax increases and spending cuts"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "demanded by the troika of the EU commission, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Tsipras urged Greeks to vote "no" in the forthcoming referendum"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "saying the plebiscite would be a strong "negotiating tool" in talks with lenders"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the referendum will ask Greece whether they support the "plan of agreement" drawn up by the troika or not"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Tsipras wins Parliament backing to cancel Greece's EU-IMF Bailout - EurActiv: LINK ¤ EURACTIV

_________________________________________

• "Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras comfortably won a vote on his plan"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to cancel a deeply unpopular bailout programme"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Tsipras hailed the decisive role "little Greece" was playing in reshaping Europe"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and promised Athens would not cave in to demands it extend its international bailout"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "we are not negotiating the bailout"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this tough stance has the backing of 75% of Greeks"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he proposed a six-month transition during which Greece wants"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to issue more short-term treasury bills"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "run a smaller budget surplus and receive European central bank profits on Greek bond holdings"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Athens wants to scrap about 30% of the current bailout's conditions to be replaced"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "by measures approved by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and implement 70% of the recommendations"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greece would use the interim period to negotiate a rescheduling of its official debt"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Privatization - US cable - 2005: LINK ¤ 05ATHENS2054

_________________________________________

• "the Greek government reaped 80 percent of its privatization revenue goal"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "with the sale of 52 million shares of OPAP, the Greek lottery-gambling company"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the OPAP sale is the first in a series of privatizations"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "other companies scheduled are Olympic Airlines, OTE, ATE Bank, and Emporiki Bank"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a target of 1.6 billion euros"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "one of the key goals under the European commission imposed austerity program"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

US Trade - US cable - 2007: LINK ¤ 07ATHENS462

_________________________________________

• "US-Greek economic and commercial cooperation commission (ECCC):"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "we push for greater openness in the Greek economy"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the ECCC will be an opportunity for US companies"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media - US cable - 2006: LINK ¤ 06ATHENS1805

_________________________________________

• "Greek media industry is controlled by business tycoons"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "whose other successful businesses enable them to subsidize their loss-making media operations"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "these media operations in turn enable them to exercise political and economic influence"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "for example, ship-owner and "mega channel" investor Vardis Vardinogiannis"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "is the best friend of Christos Lambrakis, publisher of "To Vima," "Ta Nea," "Athens News," and the "in.gr" news portal"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and Lambrakis has government construction contracts"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Vardinoyannis's two children married into the Goulandris and Nomikos ship-owning families"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "his sister Eleni is married to conservative New Democracy MP Yannis Kefaloyannis who serves as special advisor to Karamanlis"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the Greek term "interwoven interests" refers specifically and exclusively"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to the web of relationships among the media, business, and government"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the current Minister of the Merchant Marine commented"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that the government is a puppet"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that performs at the whim of the interwoven interests"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corruption - US cable - 2007: LINK ¤ 07ATHENS864

_________________________________________

• "in an effort to address public unhappiness over mishandling of pension funds"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "conservative PM Karamanlis fired Employment Minister Tsitourides and replaced him with a party stalwart"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Tsitourides has been accused of failing to properly control public employee pension funds"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and their investment in "difficult" structured-finance instruments"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "which had generated illicit "commissions" for unspecified individuals connected to the Karamanlis government"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "at the center of the scandal was a 280 million Euro bond and constant maturity swap (CMS)"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "on behalf of the Greek defense ministry"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Corruption - US cable - 2007: LINK ¤ 08ATHENS935

_________________________________________

• "Theodoros Tsoukatos, an ex-confidant of former PASOK Prime Minister Costas Simitis"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "publicly admitted receiving one million Deutsche marks (EUR 420,000)"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "from the German telecom company Siemens on behalf of the party"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "most commentators believe that sooner or later the "Siemens thread" will lead to New Democracy"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US Security - US cable - 2009: LINK ¤ 09ATHENS109

_________________________________________

• "the importance of not getting drawn into the disputes in the Aegean"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "between Turkey and Greece"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "our goal must be to keep both sides from provoking the other"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Nato's Luns principle was established as a tool"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to help Nato, and by extension the US"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "to remain neutral"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karamanlis - US cable - 2008: LINK ¤ 08ATHENS1380

_________________________________________

• "recent weeks have not been kind to Prime Minister Karamanlis"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "his conservative "New Democracy" party is now polling lower than major opposition party PASOK"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "ND MP Dailakis said that minister of information and government of Greece spokesman Roussopoulos"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "should resign due to links to a land swap scandal"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Dailakis also called for the head of Karamanlis' private office, Yiannis Angelou, to be removed"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "due to his "interference" and "isolation of the PM from the real world""

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shipping Industry - US cable - 2008: LINK ¤ 08ATHENS216

_________________________________________

• "Greek companies own 3,400 merchant vessels"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "making the Greek-owned merchant fleet the largest in the world"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the Greek-owned fleet represents 8.4 percent of the world's"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "total number of cargo ships and 13.7 percent of the world's tonnage"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greek-owned ships are docked all over the world, and fly under a variety of flags"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Shipping Industry - US cable - 2009: LINK ¤ 09ATHENS252

_________________________________________

• "25 percent of US exports are being moved by Greek-owned ships"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

60 Minutes - US cable - 2008: LINK ¤ 08ATHENS1396

_________________________________________

• "Greece's elite SKAI TV devoted season premiere of its "60 Minutes"-style investigative show "Neoi Fakkeloi""

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "("the new files") to the Georgia-Russia crisis"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "with its well-chosen presentation of key US positions"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the show was an important contribution to getting the US message out in Greece"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Police - US cable - 2009: LINK ¤ 09ATHENS114

_________________________________________

• "long distrusted by the Greek populace for its historical role"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "as enforcer for the 1967-74 military junta"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the police force is vilified by the political left, neglected by government ministers, and demoralized internally"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the Hellenic Police (HP) is institutionally weak"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "suffers high turnover and a politicized assignments system"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the HP has been remarkably eager and helpful in cooperating with the United States"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "police leadership is generally affiliated with the conservative "New Democracy" party"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

US Security - US cable - 2008: LINK ¤ 08ATHENS20

_________________________________________

• "Greece is a Nato ally and strategic partner of the US"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "at the same time, Greece's participation in Nato is politically sensitive"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "with weak public support for Nato operations"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "there also exists an anti-US bias in the Greek media and body politic, stemming from"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "US support of the Greek military junta"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "Greece is among the largest purchasers of US military equipment"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

can Europe escape the Debt trap ? - the Guardian: LINK ¤ the GUARDIAN

_________________________________________

• "what is the legal status of debt contracted with the helpful services of Goldman Sachs ?"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that presented public borrowing as a derivative transaction"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debtocracy - FILM - YouTube: LINK ¤ DEBTOCRACY

_________________________________________

• "Debtocracy seeks the causes of the debt crisis and proposes solutions"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Athens Finanzminister fordert Merkel-Plan - der Standard: LINK ¤ der STANDARD

_________________________________________

• "Regierungschef Alexis Tsipras traf in Brüssel EU-Kommissionschef Jean-Claude Juncker, Ratspräsident Donald Tusk und Parlamentspräsident Martin Schulz"

 

_________________________________________

• "die Geschichte der EU ist zwar eine der Meinungsverschiedenheiten, aber am Ende stehe immer ein Kompromiss"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "er arbeitet mit den EU-Vertretern derzeit an einem solchen Kompromiss"

 

_________________________________________

• "wir haben zwar natürlich noch keine Einigung, aber wir sind auf einem guten Weg, eine brauchbare Einigung zu finden"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "auf Tour quer durch Europa ist auch der neue Finanzminister Yiannis Varoufakis. Er sprach mit dem Chef der Europäischen Zentralbank, Mario Draghi, über eine Lösung"

 

_________________________________________

• "er schlägt einen "Merkel-Plan" vor"

 

_________________________________________

• "Deutschland ist das mächtigste Land Europas, und sollte deshalb Verantwortung für andere übernehmen"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "nach dem Vorbild des Marshall-Plans würde Deutschland seine Kraft nutzen, um Europa zu vereinigen"

 

 

 

 

Alexis Tsipras als neuer griechischer Ministerpräsident angelobt - der Standard: LINK ¤ der STANDARD

_________________________________________

• "Alexis Tsipras (Syriza) ist als neuer griechischer Ministerpräsident vereidigt worden"

 

_________________________________________

• "er versprach in Athen, die Interessen des griechischen Volkes zu wahren"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "und kündigte an, die mit den europäischen Partnern vereinbarten Reformauflagen neu zu verhandeln"

 

_________________________________________

• "Frankreichs Präsident François Hollande gratulierte und betonte seinen Wunsch nach "enger Kooperation" zwischen Frankreich und Griechenland"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "im Dienste von Wachstum und Stabilität in der Eurozone"

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

Aus für Griechenlands Staatsfunk hat diktatorische Züge - Katherine Sarikakis: LINK ¤ der STANDARD

_________________________________________

• "seit Dienstag um 23.15 Uhr existiert der öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk in Griechenland nicht mehr"

 

 

_________________________________________

• "er hat eine sehr moderne Ausstattung, er gilt als Qualitätsmedium"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

der Standard: "ein Umstand, der der Regierung nicht passt ?"

• "die ERT-Journalisten haben immer wieder das Krisenmanagement und die sozialen Auswirkungen der Krise kritisiert"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "in der Vergangenheit gab es schon Versuche, sehr kritische Journalisten zu entlassen"

 

_________________________________________

• "der ERT schreibt keine Verluste"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "die Rundfunkanstalt wurde 1938 gegründet, wirklich frei ist der Sender seit dem Jahr 1974"

 

 

_________________________________________

• "er repräsentiert also die demokratische Kultur"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "die Schließung erinnert auch deswegen an dunklere Zeiten"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREECE - Wikipedia EN: LINK ¤ GREECE

Ελλάδα - Wikipedia EL: LINK ¤ Ελλάδα