Tag Archives: Alexis Tsipras

Editor’s Pick, Featured, International, Politics

Eurozone Summit Reaches Deal On Greek Bailout

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Eurozone creditors reached a deal with Greece on Monday, to avoid the country’s exit from the Euro, and to “resolve Greece’s debt crisis,” in exchange for stricter austerity measures.

The deal, which is Greece’s third bailout package in the last five years, is awaiting the approval of Greece’s parliament, and sharply contrasts last week’s referendum, where Greek citizens voted to reject any bailout deal that would require further austerity.

While Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised to reject further austerity when he came to power in January, the new bailout package will leave Greeks faced with even more rigorous measures than before.

The Guardian reported that after “31 hours of acrimonious discussions spread over one tense weekend,” the 19 leaders of the Eurozone came to an agreement that would require Greece to introduce “controversial economic reforms” and to sell off 50 billion Euros worth of state assets, “with the proceeds earmarked for a trust fund supervised by its creditors.”

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, took to Twitter to write that summit leaders had reached a unanimous agreement, which would require  “serious reforms” in exchange for “financial support.”

The New York Times reported that when speaking to reporters following the announcement of the deal on Monday, Tsipras “tried to put a positive spin on what might be seen as an almost total capitulation by Athens to creditors’ demands for tough austerity,” and said that the Greek government “assumed the responsibility of averting the extremist ambitions of the most conservative circles in Europe.”

“We gave a tough battle for six months and fought until the end in order to achieve the best we could, a deal that would allow Greece to stand on its feet,” Tsipras said. “We faced hard decisions, tough dilemmas.”

While French President Francois Hollande said that losing Greece from the Eurozone would be like losing “the heart of our civilization,” the president of the Eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that the Greeks “have to show they’re credible, show that they mean it.”

The Associated Press reported that before Greece can receive 85 billion Euros, or $95.07 billion in bailout funds, the Greek government “will have to pass a raft of austerity measures that include sales tax increases, reforms to pensions, and labor market reforms.”

While Greek banks are expected to remain closed this week, requiring emergency loans in order to reopen, the New York Times noted that the European Central Bank is “unlikely to provide additional emergency cash,” until the Greek Parliament agrees to the bailout package.

The Guardian reported that the European commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank asked Greece to come up with a “plan to ‘de-politicize’ its civil service by next Monday,” and that the country could be forced to reverse any measures deemed “counter to the bailout philosophy” which could leading to the firing of the “government cleaners that Syriza rehired with such fanfare.”

The Associated Press noted that while Greece has received two previous bailouts, totaling 240 billion Euros, or $268 billion, “in return for deep spending cuts, tax increases and reforms from successive governments,” Greece’s debt has continued to increase, “as the economy has shrunk by a quarter.”

Editor’s Pick, Featured, International, Politics

Greece Rejects Further Austerity Measures

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In a landmark referendum, Greek voters rejected a bailout deal on Sunday that was proposed by the European Union and International Monetary Fund and would have required greater austerity measures in exchange for emergency funds.

The vote signals a victory for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who promised to reject further austerity when he came to power in January. Although there were rumors from opposition parties that Greece was voting on whether to remain a part of Europe’s joint currency, Tsipras said that the vote was not requiring a “rupture” with Europe.

Following the vote in which over 61 percent of voters favored rejecting a bailout that would lead to greater austerity in the country, Tsipras called the results a “victory of democracy,” and said the country has “proved even in the most difficult circumstances that democracy won’t be blackmailed.”

The New York Times noted that despite several stories from the country’s media- which is “dominated by Greek oligarchs”- about citizens not having access to deposits and losing gasoline and medicine after the European Central Bank severely limited financial assistance to Greek banks a week before the referendum, many voters were “tired of more than five years of soaring unemployment and a collapsing economy,” and did not want to accept the EU’s bailout offer because it would impose even more “pension cuts and tax increases, without debt relief.”

Despite the country’s vote to reject the EU’s bailout, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned on Monday under pressure from European leaders after he infuriated them when he “compared Greece’s creditors to terrorists,” according to The Guardian.

Varoufakis announced his resignation in a blog post, writing that he will considers it his duty to “help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum,” and that he will “wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”

“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings,” Varoufakis wrote. “An idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.”

Varoufakis, who said that Tsipras thought his absence from Eurogroup meetings could be helpful in “reaching an agreement,” will be replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece’s deputy foreign minister for international economic affairs.

The Guardian reported that in speculating a further deal, “European leaders are calling on Athens to make the first move,” and while French finance minister Michel Sapin said it was up to the Greek government, Finland’s finance minister Alexander Stubb said talks could only restart when Greece agrees to “necessary reforms,” German chancellor, Angela Merkel, will begin talks with French president François Hollande on Monday evening.

All 19 Eurozone leaders are expected to gather on Tuesday for an emergency summit to discuss possible reform proposals from the Greek authorities.