Greece debt crisis: Varoufakis says bailout 'won't work' 12 August 2015 From the section Business please log in to view this image Would Grexit have been a better deal? Has Greece avoided Grexit? 20 July 2015 Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has said the latest Greek bailout deal "is not going to work". Mr Varoufakis, speaking on the BBC's World at One, said that others negotiators in Tuesday's agreement felt the same way. He said: "The Greek finance minister… says more or less the same thing. He added that he had seen the "finance minister of Germany go to the Bundestag and effectively confess this deal is not going to work". "The International Monetary Fund... is throwing up its hands collectively despairing at a programme that is simply founded on unsustainable debt... and yet this is a programme that everybody is working towards implementing." Mr Varoufakis was removed from the talks early last month and replaced by the present finance minister Euclid Tsakolotos. He added: "Ask anyone who knows anything about Greece's finances and they will tell you this deal is not going to work," Tsipras 'optimistic' But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday that the deal would end the country's economic uncertainty. Mr Tsipras is expected to call a emergency session of parliament on Thursday to ratify the bailout. He faces opposition from many hardliners in his radical left Syriza party who oppose the austerity measures included in the deal. Mr Tsipras said: "Despite the obstacles that some are trying to put into our path, I'm optimistic we will get to an agreement, loan support from the European mechanism, which will put a final end to economic uncertainty." Greece must repay some €3.4bn to the ECB by next Thursday. If the deal is not finalised by then Athens may need more emergency funding. Eurozone finance ministers are expected to meet at the weekend to endorse the draft deal. However, many member states believe more negotiating has to be done. On Tuesday, Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said: "There remains work to be done with details. Agreement is a big word." The German government has welcomed Tuesday's deal calling it a "substantial result". But it said it must study the deal further before deciding whether it was ready for approval by the German parliament.
Of course the bailout wont work, this is the third Greek bailout. How can a bailout work if the money is going to creditors and you are forced to sell profit making assets. As long as those bonds are returning €€ the banks couldn't care if the Greeks starve and resort to cannibalism. This is about floating a smashed financial system. You need sacrificial cows. We seen how it plays out in Cyprus. The banks just take your money straight from your accounts as well as the ECB taking your money through asset loss, taxes charges and cuts through "Austerity". Not only that, then the banks hit the revenue for taxes back because of their losses. This is ****ing funny at this stage, we are being ****ing mullered and we are none the wiser or just don't give a ****. What is floating the monetary system now is the sweat and blood of your great great great grandkids. The can is well and truly kicked down the road. As is, victims need to be fed to the beast, Greece 3 times now. Pucker up Spain and Italy. You're next. Families sleeping in cars is not an uncommon thing in Europe these days.
I am not an economist either I read the work of economists, just not keynesian economics as they are the economics of destruction as we have witnessed since 2008. Government\state run services face no competition, no responsibility to share holders (or voters really) and are inefficient and wasteful primarily because there was a money tap, especially from 1990s to 2008. If the money comes in regardless of performance, then performance will always suffer every single time and everything stagnates and degrades.
Would agree with that to a large extent but still don't understand how that is governments etc milking them. Also if state run things are so bad what is your answer if not privatisation.
You got a recent example, a rare example of out and out corruption making the news, the Ministers and their bogus claims was all over the media a few years ago. It was a scam. There are many scams. Quangos, Nepotism, hirig people not fit for the jobs because they are family or friends. Really bad decisions because of the fact the next budget will still be there regardless. This is obviously just a basic breakdown of how things can be run into the ground. Also, when there is a money faucet, overstated budgets and oppulent working conditions for management are also common. Unfortunately after years of this mismanagement, when the cuts come, they are not to the areas that wasted all of the money, it's the important services and the pay of those who work the hardest get hit.
Angela Merkel expects IMF to take part in Greek bailout please log in to view this image German Chancellor says the International Monetary Fund will probably take part in a new bailout for ITV's Tom Bradby tries to save suicidal Greek man from drowning please log in to view this image Journalist speaks of his shock and anger after man commits suicide as police and officials stand by 16 Aug 2015
Greece crisis: PM Alexis Tsipras quits and calls early polls 20 August 2015 Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced he is resigning and has called an early election. Mr Tsipras, who was only elected in January, said he had a moral duty to go to the polls now a third bailout had been secured with European creditors. The election date is yet to be set but earlier reports suggested 20 September. Mr Tsipras will lead his leftist Syriza party into the polls, but he has faced a rebellion by some members angry at the bailout's austerity measures. He had to agree to painful state sector cuts, including far-reaching pension reforms, in exchange for the bailout - and keeping Greece in the eurozone. Greece received the first €13bn ($14.5bn) tranche of the bailout on Thursday after it was approved by relevant European parliaments. It allowed Greece to repay a €3.2bn debt to the European Central Bank and avoid a messy default. The overall bailout package is worth about €86bn over three years. Lost majority Alexis Tsipras made the announcement in a televised state address on Thursday. "The political mandate of the 25 January elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say," he said. "I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the agreement we expected before the January elections." Mr Tsipras said he would seek the Greek people's approval to continue his government's programme. Analysis: Chris Buckler, BBC News, Athens In January, Alexis Tsipras went to the polls in Greece as a man who would stand against austerity. What a difference seven months makes. Now he is calling elections to ask the Greek public to support the way he is trying to lead this country out of its financial crisis. That means spending cuts, tax rises and, of course, that third bailout that's already been agreed. All of that is opposed by a sizeable number of hard-left MPs within his own party, Syriza. Mr Tsipras will argue this election is about bringing certainty to Greece's future. In the short-term at least, though, it will create political uncertainty. And that's becoming a pretty familiar feeling here in Athens. Mr Tsipras said Greeks would have to decide whether he had represented them courageously with the creditors. He met President Prokopis Pavlopoulos later in the evening to submit his resignation, Reuters reported, telling him: "The present parliament cannot offer a government of majority or a national unity government." Greece will be run by a caretaker government ahead of the polls. Alexis Tsipras (left) meets President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to submit his resignation If a government resigns within a year of election, the constitution requires the president to ask the second-largest party - in this case the conservative New Democracy - to try to form an administration. If this fails, the next largest party must be given a chance. Analysts say both parties can waive this and allow the president to approve the snap election. However, New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis said it was his "political obligation and responsibility to exhaust all the options", even though the numbers suggest he has little chance. Capital controls Reacting to the news, Martin Selmayr, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's chief-of-staff, tweeted that "swift elections in Greece can be a way to broaden support" for the bailout deal. Chair of the eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said he hoped the resignation would not affect the bailout conditions. "It is crucial that Greece maintains its commitments to the eurozone," he said. Some 43 of Syriza's 149 MPs had either opposed the bailout or abstained in last Friday's Greek parliamentary vote that approved the deal. The rebellion meant Mr Tsipras had effectively lost his parliamentary majority. Mr Tsipras had won power on a manifesto of opposing the stringent austerity conditions that he has now accepted. He said he was forced to do so because a majority of Greeks wanted to stay in the eurozone, and this could not be achieved in any other way. Greece remains under strict capital controls, with weekly limits on cash withdrawals for Greek citizens. Are you Greek? What do you think about the resignation of Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras? You can share your experiences by emailing [email protected]. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
