Tsipras reshuffles the Greek cabinet

[rooster59]

Tsipras reshuffles the Greek cabinet

Catherine Hardy

 

 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is promising “brighter days” after a cabinet reshuffle.

 

“We have to repair what is going wrong, to change certain attitudes and take all the action needed to pull the country out of the long-lasting economic crisis. We have made all the necessary changes in the cabinet to do this,” Tsipras told reporters.

 

Why has Tsipras done this?

 

 

Analysts see it as an attempt to speed up reforms Athens has agreed to implement under its latest international bailout deal and to shore up his government’s popularity.

 

But Tsipras has signalled he will stick with the fiscal course agreed with the EU and IMF by keeping Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos in his post.

 

Why now?

 

Greece wants to wrap up a review on labour reforms and fiscal issues swiftly in order to qualify for more debt relief.

 

Athens also wants to be included in the European Central Bank’s bond-buying programme.

 

This will help it regain access to the bond market by 2018, when its current bailout programme expires.

 

Has the cabinet changed much?

 

No.

 

Tsipras switched his ministers around has brought few new faces to his cabinet.

 

• Dimitris Liakos – responsible for the implementation of Greece’s bailout programme.
• George Stathakis – Energy Minister
• Panagiotis Kouroublis – Shipping Minister
• Panos Skourletis – Interior Minister
• Stergios Pitsiorlas – Deputy Finance Minister
• Dimitris Papadimitrou – Economy and Development Minister
• Nikos Pappas – Digital Governance and Media Minister
• Effie Achtsioglou – Labour Minister

 

Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas kept his post, along with the ministers of foreign affairs, defence and tourism.

 

Tsipras set up stand-alone ministries to handle tourism – the economy’s key driver – and the crucial issue of migration.

 

Europe is struggling with its worst migrant crisis in decades and thousands are stranded in the cash-strapped country.

 

The background

 

Tsipras was first elected in January 2015, promising to end years of austerity.

 

He reversed course six months later and signed up to a new ballot, Greece’s third aid programme since the country’s debt crisis broke out in 2010.

 

He was re-elected in September last year, but his popularity ratings have been dropping for months.

 

His Syriza party has been trailing the conservative New Democracy party.

 

Euronews – all views

 

Stamatis Giannisis from the Greek language service at Euronews says: “Prime Minister Tsipras made the decision to shake up his cabinet in order to boost the flagging popularity of the ruling SYRIZA party.”

 

“He also wants to convince the country’s creditors that his administration is committed to economic reforms and therefore, eligible for talks on debt relief.”

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-11-06

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is promising “brighter days” after a cabinet reshuffle.

 

Reshuffle, brighter days? One would wonder if this guy is playing with a full deck. He betrayed the voters wishes sold his soul to the moneyed devils who bought up most of the prize government assets on the cheap. Is he selling free trips to Mars this time around. He gives new meaning to the word Charlatan.

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Reshuffle, brighter days? One would wonder if this guy is playing with a full deck. He betrayed the voters wishes sold his soul to the moneyed devils who bought up most of the prize government assets on the cheap. Is he selling free trips to Mars this time around. He gives new meaning to the word Charlatan.

To be fair, he didn't have any easy decision to make. Germany made it very clear that it dead set against doing anything that would ease Greece's exit from the EU. 

[sirineou]

Reshuffling the  chairs on the Titanic. Greece needs to turn away from the EU iceberg.

A close friend of mine there, just got an electric bill for 8,400 euros, Electric Co. said they were estimating his bill for the past six years and they were under billing him , now he needs to pay the balance in two payment with in a year or they are turning his electric off.

He got a lawyer and went to court. He said he was not the only one , there were hundreds there with the same situation. perhaps thousands in the country.

What's going on in Greece with the pensioners paying for the fat Cat crime is simply Criminal.

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Reshuffling the  chairs on the Titanic. Greece needs to turn away from the EU iceberg.

A close friend of mine there, just got an electric bill for 8,400 euros, Electric Co. said they were estimating his bill for the past six years and they were under billing him , now he needs to pay the balance in two payment with in a year or they are turning his electric off.

He got a lawyer and went to court. He said he was not the only one , there were hundreds there with the same situation. perhaps thousands in the country.

What's going on in Greece with the pensioners paying for the fat Cat crime is simply Criminal.

Yes, the Euro is a disaster. American economists, left, right and center, were all very dubious about it for reasons that are now obvious.  They were told that it wasn't just about money but it was a sign of European unity.   ANd people keep on talking about a Greek bailout. It wasn't a bailout of Greece. It was a bailout of the banks who foolishly lent to Greece.

[sirineou]

4 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Yes, the Euro is a disaster. American economists, left, right and center, were all very dubious about it for reasons that are now obvious.  They were told that it wasn't just about money but it was a sign of European unity.   ANd people keep on talking about a Greek bailout. It wasn't a bailout of Greece. It was a bailout of the banks who foolishly lent to Greece.

Not Foolishly , they knew what they were doing.The pay to play culture was well known, to every one. They said they did not know the state of the Greek economy. Really!! they were that stupid? that ignorant? and they are going to run a EU? 

The bankers got their fees, and bonuses ,  the Greek fat cats that profited from the graft and corruption are now living on Park Avenue, and in London, and Greek pensioners are left to pay.  The average Greek pension is down to 833 Euros a month.

And the pensioners all over Europe who had their pension funds invested in Greece got screwed. 

Criminal !!!  

[Xircal]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Yes, the Euro is a disaster. American economists, left, right and center, were all very dubious about it for reasons that are now obvious.  They were told that it wasn't just about money but it was a sign of European unity.   ANd people keep on talking about a Greek bailout. It wasn't a bailout of Greece. It was a bailout of the banks who foolishly lent to Greece.

 

The euro isn't a disaster at all and has now become the second fallback currency after the US dollar. The original idea behind it was to enable EU member states to trade with each other without having to factor in fluctuations in the FX rate.

 

As regards Greece Goldman Sachs was employed to fiddle the books so that the country could join the EU. If closer attention had been paid to the figures it would have become obvious that Greece didn't meet the criteria to join, but at that time the EU was all about expansionism and Greece was a considered to be desirable nation to become part of it. Therefore any misgivings about its economy were overlooked and we're now paying the price for those blunders.

[ilostmypassword]

12 minutes ago, Xircal said:

 

The euro isn't a disaster at all and has now become the second fallback currency after the US dollar. The original idea behind it was to enable EU member states to trade with each other without having to factor in fluctuations in the FX rate.

 

As regards Greece Goldman Sachs was employed to fiddle the books so that the country could join the EU. If closer attention had been paid to the figures it would have become obvious that Greece didn't meet the criteria to join, but at that time the EU was all about expansionism and Greece was a considered to be desirable nation to become part of it. Therefore any misgivings about its economy were overlooked and we're now paying the price for those blunders.

Who cares how strong it is as a currency?  It's how it affects the economies of member nations of the Eurozone that counts.

Of course the Euro is a disaster. It's a monetary union without a fiscal union. So what happens in a case like this is that because the Euro is the currency for weak economies and strong economies, it depresses the value of the currency in relation to the strong economy and raises it in value for the weak economy.  In the Eurozone that means the euro is weak in relation to the Germany currency which gives it a big advantage in competing not just for exports outside the Eurozone but against companies within the Eurozone. In effect the economically distressed  countries have to go through a very slow and grinding process of deflation to become compettive again. In other words, the Euro works in exactly the opposite way you would want a currency to work in the face of a financial crisis.

If they had their own currencies, their economies would adjust more quickly through devaluation. 

And Goldman Sachs didn't fiddle with Greece when it had its own currency. It's only when it joined the Eurozone in 2001 that the shenanigans began.

[Xircal]

19 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Who cares how strong it is as a currency?  It's how it affects the economies of member nations of the Eurozone that counts.

Of course the Euro is a disaster. It's a monetary union without a fiscal union. So what happens in a case like this is that because the Euro is the currency for weak economies and strong economies, it depresses the value of the currency in relation to the strong economy and raises it in value for the weak economy.  In the Eurozone that means the euro is weak in relation to the Germany currency which gives it a big advantage in competing not just for exports outside the Eurozone but against companies within the Eurozone. In effect the economically distressed  countries have to go through a very slow and grinding process of deflation to become compettive again. In other words, the Euro works in exactly the opposite way you would want a currency to work in the face of a financial crisis.

If they had their own currencies, their economies would adjust more quickly through devaluation. 

And Goldman Sachs didn't fiddle with Greece when it had its own currency. It's only when it joined the Eurozone in 2001 that the shenanigans began.

 

There's nothing wrong with the euro as a currency and to reiterate, it serves the purpose of allowing EU member states to trade with each other without having to worry about fluctuations in the FX rate.

 

Germany does benefit from a weak euro, but it's the ECB's current QE policy which is driving the low value of the currency at the moment in a effort to stimulate growth. Banks aren't happy with it since they can't raise interest rates when lending to clients, but it does make borrowing cheaper.

 

But Goldman Sachs was primarily responsible for hiding the true extent of the Greek debt as I've already mentioned: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7294733/Goldman-admits-helping-Greece-fiddle-books-to-conceal-public-debt.html

 

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

6 minutes ago, Xircal said:

 

There's nothing wrong with the euro as a currency and to reiterate, it serves the purpose of allowing EU member states to trade with each other without having to worry about fluctuations in the FX rate.

 

Germany does benefit from a weak euro, but it's the ECB's current QE policy which is driving the low value of the currency at the moment in a effort to stimulate growth. Banks aren't happy with it since they can't raise interest rates when lending to clients, but it does make borrowing cheaper.

 

But Goldman Sachs was primarily responsible for hiding the true extent of the Greek debt as I've already mentioned: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7294733/Goldman-admits-helping-Greece-fiddle-books-to-conceal-public-debt.html

 

 

 

Currency fluctuations aren't a bad thing; they're a good thing.  If nation x's economy is weakening, it's currency gets devalued, which makes it harder to purchase stuff from other countries and helps put lid on financial irresponsibility. It also helps boost the competitiveness of its exports.  Germany right now is still enjoying a huge competitive advantage and hurting the weaker nations of the Eurozone precisely because there is no currency fluctuation between members of the Eurozone.

And no, Goldman Sachs didn't help fiddle the books to get Greece into the EU as you said. It fiddled the books to get Greece into the Eurozone. And the big European banks who lent Greece money didn't do their due diligence and got bailed out by the EU.  It wasn't a bailout of Greece but of the big banks.

[Xircal]

44 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Currency fluctuations aren't a bad thing; they're a good thing.  If nation x's economy is weakening, it's currency gets devalued, which makes it harder to purchase stuff from other countries and helps put lid on financial irresponsibility. It also helps boost the competitiveness of its exports.  Germany right now is still enjoying a huge competitive advantage and hurting the weaker nations of the Eurozone precisely because there is no currency fluctuation between members of the Eurozone.

And no, Goldman Sachs didn't help fiddle the books to get Greece into the EU as you said. It fiddled the books to get Greece into the Eurozone. And the big European banks who lent Greece money didn't do their due diligence and got bailed out by the EU.  It wasn't a bailout of Greece but of the big banks.

 

I wouldn't describe currency fluctuations as a good thing. If the value of the euro FX rate drops suddenly just when I'm planning to arrive in Thailand then it means that I have to find some extra cash from somewhere to pay for the same amount of goods I was intending to buy or go without. If the Netherlands and Thailand had the same currency regardless of whether that was the Baht or Euro, then that problem would be eliminated.

 

Germany does have an advantage it's true, but then the weaker economies need to get their fingers out of their backsides and get to work to reform themselves. Greece is now into its third bailout and why? Because the lazy parasites don't want to pay taxes and just want to live the cushy life at someone else's expense. So a few more years of hardship are needed to wean them off their reliance on other countries to come bail them out whenever it suits them.

[ilostmypassword]

9 minutes ago, Xircal said:

 

I wouldn't describe currency fluctuations as a good thing. If the value of the euro FX rate drops suddenly just when I'm planning to arrive in Thailand then it means that I have to find some extra cash from somewhere to pay for the same amount of goods I was intending to buy or go without. If the Netherlands and Thailand had the same currency regardless of whether that was the Baht or Euro, then that problem would be eliminated.

 

Germany does have an advantage it's true, but then the weaker economies need to get their fingers out of their backsides and get to work to reform themselves. Greece is now into its third bailout and why? Because the lazy parasites don't want to pay taxes and just want to live the cushy life at someone else's expense. So a few more years of hardship are needed to wean them off their reliance on other countries to come bail them out whenever it suits them.

And this is your idea of an important economic problem that needs to be solved? Currency fluctuations are the way the nations of the world adjust according to their economic strenght. If a nation so much and importing comparatively so little that its currency rises, it will make exports more difficult and imports easier. Thus adjusting itself.  I guess you don't realize that you are in opposition to virtually every economist in the world.  By your reason, all nations should be on one currency. Very convenient and very disastrous.

 Greece is  not in its third bailout - the European banks are in their third bailout.  When a banks make bad loans, as they did to Greece, they deserve to lose their shirts.  Given the level of its debt, it is impossible for Greece ever to pay it back. So your recommendation for how Greece is to solve its problems is servitude and grinding poverty forever. The obvious solution is to expel Greece from the Eurozone and let governments openly bail out their banks if they want to instead of mislabeling it a bailout of Greece. It's nothing of the sort.                                    

[elgordo38]

21 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

To be fair, he didn't have any easy decision to make. Germany made it very clear that it dead set against doing anything that would ease Greece's exit from the EU. 

I concur but then people did place their trust in this fellow. Misplaced at best and so much for voting and trusting politicians I know I am being naive.  Then again most politicians blow in the political winds testing testing. Politics is a game for the politician but we always expect a lot more than we get. Tomorrow in the USA will be a good example of that. Pig in a poke day. 

[RickBradford]

Our beloved Hellenic Republic is unfortunately the European counterpart to Thailand.

 

Corrupt from top to bottom, stuffed with lazy, arrogant, nationalistic do-nothing bureaucrats, then someone offers untold billions of free money for development and poverty alleviation. Offer a kid a huge bag of sweets, and he'll eat until he makes himself sick. Which Greece has done.

 

The money all goes into the pockets of the usual well-connected suspects, entrenches a culture of entitlement and the Greek people wake up, belatedly as usual, to find themselves in unredeemable debt.

 

Tsipras is fairly irrelevant; caught between its own inherent ineffectiveness, and EU pressure, Greece is in a position such that even Superman and Wonder Woman couldn't drag it out of the mess it is in.

 

Varoufakis wanted to defy the EU, so he had to go. Anybody who makes a call to "democratise the EU" is clearly too dangerous to be allowed to hold power of any sort.

 

The pain for the Greek people is just beginning. Apart from those living in areas overrun with illegal African migrants, who have seen tourist income nosedive, for whom the pain began quite a while ago. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the pain is not going to end soon.

[Xircal]

22 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

 Given the level of its debt, it is impossible for Greece ever to pay it back. So your recommendation for how Greece is to solve its problems is servitude and grinding poverty forever. The obvious solution is to expel Greece from the Eurozone and let governments openly bail out their banks if they want to instead of mislabeling it a bailout of Greece. It's nothing of the sort.                                    

 

So what are you advocating then? Debt forgiveness for Greece with a slap on the wrist and watch out you don't do it again? If that was allowed to happen other countries like Spain and Portugal would be queuing up with their own grubby little begging bowls.

 

The best thing to happen now would be for the IMF/ECB to extend the period within which Greece has to repay back its debts to something a little more realistic. But debt forgiveness is definitely off the cards.

 

Your suggestion that Greece be expelled from the eurozone so that it can get its house in order isn't possible since there's there's no mechanism in place which would allow that to happen: https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-priorities-2020/news/barroso-no-country-can-be-expelled-from-euro-zone/

 

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

25 minutes ago, Xircal said:

 

So what are you advocating then? Debt forgiveness for Greece with a slap on the wrist and watch out you don't do it again? If that was allowed to happen other countries like Spain and Portugal would be queuing up with their own grubby little begging bowls.

 

The best thing to happen now would be for the IMF/ECB to extend the period within which Greece has to repay back its debts to something a little more realistic. But debt forgiveness is definitely off the cards.

 

Your suggestion that Greece be expelled from the eurozone so that it can get its house in order isn't possible since there's there's no mechanism in place which would allow that to happen: https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-priorities-2020/news/barroso-no-country-can-be-expelled-from-euro-zone/

 

 

 

Like lots of compulsive moralists you seem to be under the impression that Spain belongs in the same basket as Portugal and Greece. It doesn't.  Spain, like Ireland, was not deeply in debt at all. In the cases of Spain and Ireland, banks foolishly lent money to the private sector mostly for overbuilding. When that market crashed it was not a case of loans to the government, but of the Spanish and Irish governments being forced by the Eurozone to socialize private debts in order to bail out the big banks.  

As for Greece and Portugal, banks foolishly lent to them.  When a bank acts foolishly it should be punished by losing its money. That way, in the future, banks won't do such foolish things.  

As for it not being possible to expell a nation from the Eurozone, I don't know the exact nature of the laws, but if a nation wanted out, and the other members wanted to let it out, laws can be changed. We're not talking about the 10 Commandments here. And Barroso was a great champion of the Eurozone. I wouldn't take his word for what the laws say.

Anyway, in the case of Greece it wasn't a matter of them being expelled, they wanted to leave. But the Eurozone members, Germany particularly, did their best to make that prospect as painful as possible.

Edited November 7, 2016 by ilostmypassword

[Xircal]

54 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Like lots of compulsive moralists you seem to be under the impression that Spain belongs in the same basket as Portugal and Greece. It doesn't.  Spain, like Ireland, was not deeply in debt at all. In the cases of Spain and Ireland, banks foolishly lent money to the private sector mostly for overbuilding. When that market crashed it was not a case of loans to the government, but of the Spanish and Irish governments being forced by the Eurozone to socialize private debts in order to bail out the big banks.  

As for Greece and Portugal, banks foolishly lent to them.  When a bank acts foolishly it should be punished by losing its money. That way, in the future, banks won't do such foolish things.  

As for it not being possible to expell a nation from the Eurozone, I don't know the exact nature of the laws, but if a nation wanted out, and the other members wanted to let it out, laws can be changed. We're not talking about the 10 Commandments here. And Barroso was a great champion of the Eurozone. I wouldn't take his word for what the laws say.

Anyway, in the case of Greece it wasn't a matter of them being expelled, they wanted to leave. But the Eurozone members, Germany particularly, did their best to make that prospect as painful as possible.

 

Governments will never allow large banks to go to the wall so there's no prospect of any of them being punished for inappropriate lending. http://uk.reuters.com/article/europe-banks-bailouts-idUKL5N10W0XJ20150821

 

As for Greece leaving the eurozone I don't think it can afford that precarious step quite frankly. To begin with it would have to print its own currency (probably the Drachma again) which would immediately be devalued vis-a-vis the euro which would trigger massive inflation making imports very expensive. Since Greece imports 48% of its food and 80% of its energy, staying in the eurozone would likely present a better prospect for the future than being on the outside and subjected to market forces.