Greece readies new list of bailout reforms

[webfact]

Greece readies new list of bailout reforms
By DEREK GATOPOULOS and RAF CASERT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Caught between its own defiant campaign pledges and pressure from creditors, Greece's left-wing government will deliver a list of reforms Tuesday to debt inspectors for final approval of extended rescue loans, officials said.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was already facing dissent within his left-wing Syriza party over claims it is backtracking on its recent election-winning promises to ease budget cuts for the recession-battered Greeks.

Two officials linked to the government said the list will be sent to Brussels early Tuesday and be reviewed at a teleconference of the 19 eurozone finance ministers later in the day.

They spoke on condition of anonymity either because he wasn't authorized to make comments or because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

Greece and bailout creditors have been in a standoff since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party won general elections last month on a pledge to tear up bailout agreements and seek a massive write off of bailout debts, totaling 240 billion euros ($271 billion).

But they reached a tentative agreement Friday to extend the country's rescue loan program by four months, avoiding the risk of a Greek default and exit from the euro currency.

The government official said reforms would focus on curbing tax evasion, corruption, smuggling and excessive bureaucracy while also addressing poverty caused by a six-year recession.

A Syriza official in Brussels said that "immediate priority" would be given to the settling of overdue debts, the protection of people with mortgage arrears as well as the ending of foreclosures of first residencies.

"Creditors will be skeptical. These are notoriously difficult reforms and, in the case of the latter, usually cost money," said Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management.

"It will be difficult for the Greek government to provide concrete measures for achieving these goals, and they will almost certainly be unable to achieve much before the next round of negotiations in June."

Tsipras is also facing pressure within his party.

Several prominent Syriza members have publicly said the party should honor its campaign promises.

Environment Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, an outspoken bailout critic, lashed lead bailout lender Germany for insisting that Athens stick with austerity measures — an effort he insisted would fail.

"Red lines in negotiations cannot be crossed — that's why they are red," he told the weekly Real News. "If the Germans choose to push the issue to a rift, they will bring catastrophic consequences on themselves."

The dissent could complicate approval of the overhauled reforms in parliament, with Syriza lacking a majority and relying on right-wing coalition partner, the Independent Greeks.

Government spokesman Gavrill Sakelaridis argued Greece is still locked in tough negotiations with lenders.

"No one can be expected to change everything in three weeks. We haven't got a magic wand," he told private Skai television.

Nikos Chountis, the deputy foreign minister, said the government had not abandoned its main goal of easing the country's debt burden with a write off. Any talks on lightening Greece's bailout burden would only come later — after the loan extension is approved this week, guaranteeing both sides have time to discuss the issue in depth.

"The big negotiation will be on whether the national debt is viable or not, and how it will be dealt with," he told pro-Syriza Sto Kokkino radio.

Monday's hurried preparations in Athens found Greeks celebrating a public holiday, the start of lent before Orthodox Christian Easter, on a day marked with picnics and kite flying.

Athens resident Christos Kotsabouyoukos took his young son and daughter to fly their kite on a hill facing the ancient Acropolis, and appeared resigned to more bad news.

"The way we're living now isn't nice ... Greeks are hungry and they are miserable," he said. ""If Europe now wants to kick us out, they can kick us out — what can we do?"
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Raf Casert reported from Brussels. Raphael Kominis and Martin Benedyk in Athens contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-02-24

[soumanioco]

The Germans are not politically stupid to start themselves an existential Eurozone crisis by expelling Greece.

Hedge Funds on the planet, led by the U.S. financial sector, the strongest in the world, will stream to devour the Eurozone to earn profits, crazy profits, not of course because animated by friendly feelings towards Greece.

They'll attack wave after wave against each country of the euro, darting soaring borrowing costs, asking crazy interest rates to buy bonds of Eurozone states and leading to panic initially the ECB and then Germany itself.

If the Greek government backs down now, they're done, finished. And so is Greece.

[wabothai]

Greece:

If you cannot afford a new car, buy a used car.

When you cannot afford a used car get a donkey,

if you cannot afford a donkey, go walk.

Plain and simple.

[Srikcir]

Reds are crossing the red line.

"The government official said reforms would focus on curbing tax evasion, corruption, smuggling and excessive bureaucracy"

BUT no significant cost cutting measures such as with generous government pensions or government layoffs. Their plan of fiscal reform continues to echo past plans which have never delivered enough revenues to pay the nation's EU debt. The Greek plan is more a repeat than a reform.

[SheungWan]

The Germans are not politically stupid to start themselves an existential Eurozone crisis by expelling Greece.

Hedge Funds on the planet, led by the U.S. financial sector, the strongest in the world, will stream to devour the Eurozone to earn profits, crazy profits, not of course because animated by friendly feelings towards Greece.

They'll attack wave after wave against each country of the euro, darting soaring borrowing costs, asking crazy interest rates to buy bonds of Eurozone states and leading to panic initially the ECB and then Germany itself.

If the Greek government backs down now, they're done, finished. And so is Greece.

They will certainly not back down from hanging on to the begging bowl while there is a scintilla of hope of one more free lunch. While they continue to fail to implement structural changes they are finished, only it is a slow death while the rest of Europe progressively inoculates itself from the Greek nonsense and looks instead to the Irish model of applying what needs to be done to extricate themselves rather than successive clown governments promising ever more strident populist junk. No backing down = New Drachma and for all the huffing and puffing from Syriza few are fooled by their rubbish poker hand.

Edited February 24, 2015 by SheungWan

[puck2]

<.....>

They will certainly not back down from hanging on to the begging bowl while there is a scintilla of hope of one more free lunch. While they continue to fail to implement structural changes they are finished, only it is a slow death while the rest of Europe progressively inoculates itself from the Greek nonsense and looks instead to the Irish model of applying what needs to be done to extricate themselves rather than successive clown governments promising ever more strident populist junk. No backing down = New Drachma and for all the huffing and puffing from Syriza few are fooled by their rubbish poker hand.

You hit the nail on the head. The main Greek problem seems to be the bureaucracy. It includes all the Greek diseases and can never be changed within 4 months. Even the strong man of the Greek mythology, Hercules, would fail. The international buerocrats are sleeping, too.

If you google "bureaucracy in Greece" you'll find a very long list with this subject. The reports/stories are so irreal that you might die for laughing, but you'll nearly cry considering they are/have been real.

Only a few excerpts:

Because government licensing rules limit competition in the tour guide sector — a problem highlighted by Greece’s creditors — Ms. Kyriakis’s five freelance employees cannot give tours at the Acropolis.

When someone does work, she must go to the social security office in person to register their hours. If the schedule changes, she must go again to report it. “The administrative burden is killing us,” she said. “You spend hours and hours in public offices, not being efficien

from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/business/international/greece-bureaucracy-not-just-austerity-is-an-economic-drag.html?_r=0

-------------------

The Greek state machine has increased 10 times in 30 years. The onerous bureaucratic procedures and the cumbersome state system are the cause of the so-called "black hole in the budget" and a major obstacle to the creation of a healthy private sector. Despite the reforms and attempts to reduce bureaucracy, the Greek public system is operated by 15 ministries, 149 general directorates, 486 services and 3,720 departments. Bureaucracy in Greece costs the citizens 14 billion euro or 6.8% of GDP as reported by Panagiotis Karkatsoulis who is an expert advisor to the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, a specialist in the field of public administration reform and management improvement.

from:

http://www.grreporter.info/en/bureaucracy_greece_costs_14_billion_euro_year/8671

----------------------

ATHENS — Stories of eye-popping waste and abuse of power among Greece’s bureaucrats are legion, including officials who hire their wives, and managers who submit $38,000 bills for office curtains.

Job cuts may cost Prime Minister George A. Papandreou support he badly needs.

The work force in Greece’s Parliament is so bloated, according to a local press investigation, that some employees do not even bother to come to work because there are not enough places for all of them to sit.

also of 2011:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/world/europe/greeces-bloated-bureaucracy-defies-efforts-to-cut-it.html?pagewanted=all

-------------------------------------

Konstantinos Katsigiannis, an Athens attorney who is president of the Canadian-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, says the civil service became arrogant and corrosive as it expanded. Starting a company or building a project can be a nightmare because of the endless paperwork, permits and kickbacks. A Canadian diplomat tells the story of a friend who built a resort on an island: It took 10 years and required 6,000 bureaucratic signatures.

also from 2011:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-roots-of-the-greek-tragedy-bloated-bureaucracy-and-tax-evasion/article582943/