Greece's Varoufakis promises to end debt bondage with new party

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Greece's Varoufakis promises to end debt bondage with new party

By George Georgiopoulos

 

Former Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis arrives for the presentation of his new party MeRA25, or European Realist Disobedience Front, in Athens, Greece, March 26, 2018. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

 

ATHENS (Reuters) - Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's former finance minister who transfixed Europe with his unconventional style at the climax of the debt crisis, launched a new party on Monday promising to free his country from debt bondage.

 

The academic economist - who once described the austerity imposed by Greece's creditors as "fiscal waterboarding" - said his new MeRA25 party would revive the economy through debt restructuring and other measures.

 

Varoufakis' regular criticism of euro zone policy and his anti-austerity stance angered Greece's creditors and brought the country to the brink of a euro exit in 2015 before he resigned.

 

He won a measure of celebrity through his combative stance, though there have been no recent polls to test whether that will be enough to take his party past the 3-percent threshold to enter parliament.

 

Greece was living as a "debtors' colony", which would eventually lead to its "desertification", Varoufakis told reporters at a central Athens theatre, his black shirt still untucked.

 

He said the debt-strapped country had suffered a quadruple bankruptcy - a bankrupt state with bankrupt banks and households and nonviable businesses "where everyone owes to everybody else but no one can pay."

 

"Our young people learned to live on 400 euros a month or look to emigrate. We will not repatriate them with debt relief alone as (the creditors) are promising us," he said. "Once your human capital has left, you are bereft."

 

RESTRUCTURING

 

Varoufakis, the "communist in a Burberry scarf" as EU officials once called him, said his party's plan would involve a debt restructuring - swapping outstanding Greek government bonds with new ones where yields will be linked to economic growth.

 

It would also cut the budget's primary surplus target to not more than 1.5 percent of GDP from an agreed 3.5 percent until 2022.

 

The recipe would also include a public company to manage bad loans along with a moratorium on property foreclosures, cuts in VAT tax to 18 from 24 percent and lowering corporate tax to 20-26 percent from 29 percent currently.

 

Varoufakis deflected questions from reporters about whether his combative stance during the debt crisis had cost Greece billions of euros.

 

"In 2015 creditors strangled Greece, refusing to negotiate in good faith and engineered a bank run," he said, adding that in August, when the country is set to exit its latest bailout, its debt colony status risks becoming permanent.

 

MeRA25 is a play on the Greek word for 'day' - echoing the name of his EU reform campaign group DiEM25, which evoked the Latin phrase "carpe diem" or "seize the day".

 

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-27

[SheungWan]

'Communist in a Burberry scarf' is right on the money.

[samran]

9 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

'Communist in a Burberry scarf' is right on the money.

Even though he’s left of centre I think the communist tag was a bit of a nasty label given to him by the ECB bureaucracy when he decided not to be as cooperative as they would have liked during his time as minister.

 

his proposals aren’t particularly communistic either.... lowering company tax and VAT. He’s also right about stemming the flow of talent out of the country. Without that, anything else you try and do is worthless. 

[smedly]

Greece should never have adopted the Euro - it just doesn't work, simple as that

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Perhaps he knows where the money tree grows.

[Baerboxer]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

Greece should never have adopted the Euro - it just doesn't work, simple as that

 

 

 

It would only have worked if all member states adopted it with EU finance ministry applying budgets and controls EU wide, with the ECB taking over as the "sovereign bank" for all member states.

 

As it is Germany has effectively managed it in Germany's interests.

[samran]

6 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

It would only have worked if all member states adopted it with EU finance ministry applying budgets and controls EU wide, with the ECB taking over as the "sovereign bank" for all member states.

 

As it is Germany has effectively managed it in Germany's interests.

Seems like the only route available is to reintroduce the drachma and deflate his way to recovery.

 

its not like it hasn’t been done before, the recovery from the Asian financial crises is a template.

[janclaes47]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

Greece should never have adopted the Euro - it just doesn't work, simple as that

 

 

 

If they hadn't falsified the figures they wouldn't have been part of the Euro.

[billd766]

5 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

If they hadn't falsified the figures they wouldn't have been part of the Euro.

 

Yet if the EU auditors had done their job properly they would have found the true figures and Greece may not have been allowed to join in the first place.

[Andrew65]

7 hours ago, SheungWan said:

'Communist in a Burberry scarf' is right on the money.

Barroso is a Portuguese Maoist politician, he now works for Goldman Sachs, about the most capitalistic organisation in the World, <deleted>'s that all about.

 

He can now afford much more expensive stuff than Burberry!

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

Barroso is a Portuguese Maoist politician, he now works for Goldman Sachs, about the most capitalistic organisation in the World, <deleted>'s that all about.

 

He can now afford much more expensive stuff than Burberry!

What does Barroso have to do with Greece?.

Edited March 27, 2018 by thaibeachlovers

[BuaBS]

MeRA25  ... that just rolls off the tongue .

[citybiker]

 
If they hadn't falsified the figures they wouldn't have been part of the Euro.

Cooking the books to gain EU membership? Never...

Did the EU already know or conduct an independent audit as part of membership criteria, Plausible deniability or simple ignorance?

Greece national debt currently running about 180% GDP and the EU continue to walk on egg shells?

Most countries default or go bankrupt at 140% of GDP, so why has the Eu allowed this to continue?

Simply, as it'll affect the Euro as a whole and EU fiscal governance as a simple after thought.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[janclaes47]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What does Barroso have to do with Greece?.

 

You know it was Goldman that cooked the books to allow Greece enter the Euro?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Manuel_Barroso

[Andrew65]

18 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What does Barroso have to do with Greece?.

It's that he too is supposedly a communist.

[geriatrickid]

Yay, nothing says summer in the EU than the usual street protests and chaos of Greece.

[JemJem]

I like this guy. I wish him all the best !

[smedly]

There is only one country that the Euro works for and when you have countries like Greece signed up it works even better

 

 

It really is time all this stuff is exposed for exactly what it is

 

The UK joined the EEC which was absolutely a great idea and worked for a few years until it morphed into a power grab, power grabs in Europe have cost millions of lives and although this one is rather stealthy it is exactly the same

 

There is no reason why the UK and the other 27 nations (and more) cannot trade together without all this undemocratic power grab from Brussels 

 

wars have been started over less

 

lets all be happy and trade together.......................bring back the EEC

[Grouse]

Greece doesn't work

[sirineou]

8 hours ago, JemJem said:

I like this guy. I wish him all the best !

He is  Brilliant, if anyone doubts that , plenty of videos on YouTube.

The structural reforms have taken place,  combined with a motivated, highly educated workforce, Greece is poised for recovery, all that is needed is to ease the austerity shackles and allow  investment and consumption to grow GDP .

You can not expect a sick person to recover by starving it. 

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by sirineou

[poanoi]

Greeks printed out benefits all the while dodging taxes

and expected the yet to be born to pay for it.

now they expect germans to pay for it, anyone will do as long as it isnt them self.

thet dont carry them self and EU should not be arsed

with accepting such irresponsible states in the first instance