We are Greece!
29 Jun, 2015 at 11:33 | Posted in Economics | 1 CommentThe Eurogroup Meeting of 27th June 2015 will not go down as a proud moment in Europe’s history. Ministers turned down the Greek government’s request that the Greek people should be granted a single week during which to deliver a Yes or No answer to the institutions’ proposals – proposals crucial for Greece’s future in the Eurozone.
The very idea that a government would consult its people on a problematic proposal put to it by the institutions was treated with incomprehension and often with disdain bordering on contempt. I was even asked: “How do you expect common people to understand such complex issues?”. Indeed, democracy did not have a good day in yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting! But nor did European institutions. After our request was rejected, the Eurogroup President broke with the convention of unanimity (issuing a statement without my consent) and even took the dubious decision to convene a follow up meeting without the Greek minister, ostensibly to discuss the “next steps”.
Can democracy and a monetary union coexist? Or must one give way? This is the pivotal question that the Eurogroup has decided to answer by placing democracy in the too-hard basket. So far, one hopes.
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LARS P. SYLL 
Unfortunately, it would have been far more effective if the Greek government had called for the referendum before the expiration of the “second bailout”, on June 30, 2015, tomorrow. Now there is no chance they are going to get the last $7.2 billion of that program and they will go into arrearage (default) to the IMF on Wednesday and default to the ECB on July 20, 2015.
The Troika has no reason, in their minds, to extend any kind of concession to the Greeks. They are intent on punishing the Greek nation in order to maintain their hegemony and “pour decourager les autres”.
Comment by John Zelnicker— 30 Jun, 2015 #