Eurozone warns Greece to stop wasting time on reforms plan

[webfact]

Eurozone warns Greece to stop wasting time on reforms plan
ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press
LORNE COOK, Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Greece's European creditors told Athens to stop wasting time and flesh out as of Wednesday its proposals for economic reforms, which are crucial to releasing vital funds to assure financial survival.

"We have spent now two weeks apparently discussing who meets whom where, in what configuration, and on what agenda and it is a complete waste of time," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who heads the meeting known as the Eurogroup, said Monday.

"We've talked about this long enough now," he told reporters, after the fourth ministerial meeting on Greece in Brussels in a month.

After a meeting of the 19-nation group using the euro single currency, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis agreed that technical talks on the reforms proposed by Greece to secure a four-month bailout extension should begin in Brussels on Wednesday and denied holding up the process.

"There has been no time wasted, not by the Greek government," he said. "We were very speedy."

The eurozone agreed last month to extend Greece's bailout until June, but before it actually pays out more rescue loans it wants to approve a detailed list of reforms by April. So far, Greece has only outlined some of its proposals in broad terms.

After an initial list of seven initiatives, Varoufakis said that Greece would soon provide "another batch of seven or eight reforms" for the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to assess.

The final 7.5 billion euro installment of Greece's 240 billion euro international bailout is still pending, and without it, the country is quickly running out of funds and faces repayments of IMF loan installments this month.

Dijsselbloem said there could be "no talk of disbursement (of bailout funds) if there is no implementation."

He said the eurozone would consider disbursing the loans in parts, but that could happen only after Greece had begun implementing its reforms.

Greece's government was voted into power in January on promises of abolishing the budget austerity that accompanied the bailout. But it has had to roll back on a series of pre-election promises, including seeking a write-off of most of the country's debt.

Monday's meeting was held under a cloud of skepticism among Greece's partners over its progress in detailing the promised reforms.

Over the weekend, Varoufakis said in an interview with Italy's Corriere de la Sera newspaper that if the creditors do not eventually approve the reforms, his government could call new elections or a referendum. The government later clarified any referendum would be on the content of reforms and fiscal policy.

Among other reforms, Varoufakis' suggestions include using "non-professional inspectors" such as students, housewives and tourists, to crack down on tax evasion, according to a leaked copy of the letter.

The inspectors would be hired on a short-term casual basis "to pose, after some basic training, as customers, on behalf of the tax authorities, while 'wired' for sound and video," the letter says.
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Elena Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Raf Casert in Brussels, Mike Corder in The Hague, Frank Jordans in Berlin, and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-03-10

[Costas2008]

We Greeks are constantly complaining about our politicians.

We call them useless, money grabbers, power grabbers and all sorts of other names.

We should not complaint about them but blame ourselves, for being so gullible and vote for a young leftish guy that promised the earth to us.

Of course they will employ the delay tactics as they know very well that nothing can change and they have to adhere to our obligations.

But they are trying to show the Greek people that they are fulfilling their pre election promises.

We don't want to go bankrupt, we don't want to get out of the EU.

But we can't have the pie and eat it too.

We also have to realize that the EU does not depend on us but quite the opposite.

I wish they get more sense in their brains and change their tactics, before it's too late.

And I wish the Greek people see the truth and get rid of this guy and his party, before it's too late.

[Mosha]

Did anyone watch Neil Woodford on Hard Talk yesterday? He's a Fund Manager. He said the Eurozone was not viable, and something about it being close to impossible to expect the likes of the PIGS countries to run their economies on the German model.

[Thian]

I wished we put Greece the knife on the throat, they wasted enough of our time. If they can't get their millions back out of Swisse and pay tax over it they have no right to be part of the EU. We don't need any lieing corrupt cheaters in our union. Loads of Europeans allready hate the Greek now because we paid a fortune allready to keep them in the club.

It seems they only want to play more games with us and i'm very tired of them. Greek are a bunch of lieing loosers who don't deserve any support from us. I wished we kicked them out and boycot them forever, i 'm done with them. I have more respect for cockroaches because at least don't lie.

[soumanioco]

The euro is a nuthouse currency. It is suboptimal with different financial realities, dissimilar in the countries' national strategies rather than convergent.

Therefore, the euro is converted into a powerful Deutsche Mark, that rules, dictates and commands nationals and vassals of various gradations.

In a paradoxical manner, which paradoxical is not, the euro introduces into the political and social life of of every country it occupies, an economic and class racism, resulting in the reproduction (and new production) of nationalistic stereotypes.

Using the debt as a tool, Greece is being restructured over the past years, and transformed into a pariah country. The Greeks are paying for a debt they did not create/accumulate. They are under a memorandum forced upon them that will last for generations.

They are enslaved.

[Luxfare]

So many different nations with different levels of education, different religious beliefs, different levels of social care, different levels of wealth, different levels of debt, different levels of population with different currency and we were all supposed to gel without any issues. What a completely deluded bunch of morons. There was one reason and only one reason for the EU, corruption driven gravy train riding politicians milking the teat.

[Xircal]

The euro is a nuthouse currency. It is suboptimal with different financial realities, dissimilar in the countries' national strategies rather than convergent.

Therefore, the euro is converted into a powerful Deutsche Mark, that rules, dictates and commands nationals and vassals of various gradations.

In a paradoxical manner, which paradoxical is not, the euro introduces into the political and social life of of every country it occupies, an economic and class racism, resulting in the reproduction (and new production) of nationalistic stereotypes.

Using the debt as a tool, Greece is being restructured over the past years, and transformed into a pariah country. The Greeks are paying for a debt they did not create/accumulate. They are under a memorandum forced upon them that will last for generations.

They are enslaved.

With the sentence I've outlined in red in your post, I think you need to catch up on a little bit of history, a summary of which you can find in this news report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9098559/Whats-the-Greek-debt-crisis-all-about.html

The position Greece finds itself in now is largely a situation of its own making. After joining the euro in 2001, Greece went on a spending spree on borrowed money. A failure to address the issue of tax evasion properly has led them to the predicament they find themselves in now.

As for the euro, it's essentially a good idea. Europe isn't a vast country like the US and the losses incurred on exchange rates with constant fluctuating currencies led to too much uncertainty in trading positions together with high inflation.

By introducing a single currency for the whole eurozone, trading within that area is much more manageable.

Allowing Greece into the eurozone was however a drastic mistake. Goldman Sachs shuffled the numbers and those weren't scrutinized like they should have been. But the EU was intent on expanding the eurozone as much as possible and no attention was paid to the consequences of allowing a country to join which didn't meet the criteria.

[Muhendis]

We Greeks are constantly complaining about our politicians.

We call them useless, money grabbers, power grabbers and all sorts of other names.

We should not complaint about them but blame ourselves, for being so gullible and vote for a young leftish guy that promised the earth to us.

Of course they will employ the delay tactics as they know very well that nothing can change and they have to adhere to our obligations.

But they are trying to show the Greek people that they are fulfilling their pre election promises.

We don't want to go bankrupt, we don't want to get out of the EU.

But we can't have the pie and eat it too.

We also have to realize that the EU does not depend on us but quite the opposite.

I wish they get more sense in their brains and change their tactics, before it's too late.

And I wish the Greek people see the truth and get rid of this guy and his party, before it's too late.

I don't have any intimate knowledge of your country's politics but it seems to me that as far as Greece is concerned, the original dream of a united Europe with give and take on all sides went out the window as soon as Greece became a member. The Greek people seem content to take whatever they can get and to hell with paying for it.

[WonnabeBiker]

It's still the planning stage, eh? Does anyone recall the plans announced since 2010? "50 bn Euros" from privatizations etc.?

Doing would be a different matter alltogether.

All this to help the Krauts lull in their taxpayers instead of telling them that there is a need to write off a 3-digit bn amount when ELA and Target 2 are included.

Target 2 is a fascinating issue the politicians hope the people will never read up on.

[TooPoopedToPop]

We Greeks are constantly complaining about our politicians.

We call them useless, money grabbers, power grabbers and all sorts of other names.

We should not complaint about them but blame ourselves, for being so gullible and vote for a young leftish guy that promised the earth to us.

Of course they will employ the delay tactics as they know very well that nothing can change and they have to adhere to our obligations.

But they are trying to show the Greek people that they are fulfilling their pre election promises.

We don't want to go bankrupt, we don't want to get out of the EU.

But we can't have the pie and eat it too.

We also have to realize that the EU does not depend on us but quite the opposite.

I wish they get more sense in their brains and change their tactics, before it's too late.

And I wish the Greek people see the truth and get rid of this guy and his party, before it's too late.

Excellent post, Costas...

ievel headed and fair.

What do you see as the best way forward?

...and if I may ask, who is waiting in the wings to replace "...this guy and his party..." ?

[WonnabeBiker]

The euro is a nuthouse currency. It is suboptimal with different financial realities, dissimilar in the countries' national strategies rather than convergent.

Therefore, the euro is converted into a powerful Deutsche Mark, that rules, dictates and commands nationals and vassals of various gradations.

In a paradoxical manner, which paradoxical is not, the euro introduces into the political and social life of of every country it occupies, an economic and class racism, resulting in the reproduction (and new production) of nationalistic stereotypes.

Using the debt as a tool, Greece is being restructured over the past years, and transformed into a pariah country. The Greeks are paying for a debt they did not create/accumulate. They are under a memorandum forced upon them that will last for generations.

They are enslaved.

There is more to it. Who got bailed out or "rescued"? A: not the Greek, not the Irish.

Of those 240 bn, less than 40 were reaching Greece. The rest went to Greece's creditors. BANKS etc.!! Likewise when Ireland got saddled with 30 bn Euros new national debt. That money wasn't used in Ireland for Irish purposes.

The ECB is blatantly serving some elitist banksters' interests. And now they want an "EU Army"?!?

Germany's excessive, >7% surplus causes deep pain and unhealthy capital streams. Now how will they cure the ailment? By one eternal TRANSFER UNION? They better n o t allow any referendums...

The mantra of a lower Euro being wonderful for exports is a simplistic view. There will be welfare losses...

It's an unbelievable festering mess when one considers the amounts owed to the Bundesbank through TARGET 2.

Are they gonna bankrupt Germany? Is that the end game?

[WonnabeBiker]

We Greeks are constantly complaining about our politicians.

We call them useless, money grabbers, power grabbers and all sorts of other names.

We should not complaint about them but blame ourselves, for being so gullible and vote for a young leftish guy that promised the earth to us.

Of course they will employ the delay tactics as they know very well that nothing can change and they have to adhere to our obligations.

But they are trying to show the Greek people that they are fulfilling their pre election promises.

We don't want to go bankrupt, we don't want to get out of the EU.

But we can't have the pie and eat it too.

We also have to realize that the EU does not depend on us but quite the opposite.

I wish they get more sense in their brains and change their tactics, before it's too late.

And I wish the Greek people see the truth and get rid of this guy and his party, before it's too late.

As a German, I would disagree with your assessment. Yes, the young guys may shake things up. But then you got a really competent finance minister. He discovered a giant accounting and statistics fraud - you think the German "Gollum" could have done that?!

They got the Krauts by the short and curly hairs.

Because to this day, people like Regling, Merkel, Schaeuble keep lying through their teeth to avoid telling the taxpayers that they have s u n k xxx bn Euros. Regling is in charge of the ESM and he keeps negating the need for a "haircut".

Why not set the interest to - 2% and make the loans repayable in the year 2999?!?

The Greeks got less than 40 bn of those 240 bn a few years ago. Check it out. How come this isn't public knowledge? No wonder they want Yanis V. to shut up!! But he is likely right, saying "... nd the Germans wil pay in the end". Amen.

[Lupatria]

Good post Costas! Wish you had this common sense when it comes to your posts about Thailand.

[steve187]

the man was elected on false promises, there was no way he could do what he said he was going to do, there should be another election he is in power by deception.

[maidee]

why they keep pumping money, over & over again, in this bottomless pitt?

they want a write-off ? and still they ask & probably get more money ...

no house/land tax overthere ?

[Xircal]

Here's what the Greeks really think.

[hawker9000]

'Sounds like the Dutch at least have their head in the game. Get on with it!

[bangon04]

"The inspectors would be hired on a short-term casual basis "to pose, after some basic training, as customers, on behalf of the tax authorities, while 'wired' for sound and video," the letter says."

yes that should solve the Greek tax problem and save the day.

[hawker9000]

"The inspectors would be hired on a short-term casual basis "to pose, after some basic training, as customers, on behalf of the tax authorities, while 'wired' for sound and video," the letter says."

yes that should solve the Greek tax problem and save the day.

If the Greeks don't cotton to austerity programs, I predict a less than enthusiastic response to being spied on by their own government "revenuers". 'Course we here in the U.S. have had several decades to not only be used to it, but expect it. 'Land of the handout; Home of the heavily taxed... And we're STILL $17T+ in debt! (Hmmm. Could there be a lesson there somewhere?)