Greek adjustment program is working, insists ESM's Regling:

Leaving aside the academic debate of multipliers, there has been much criticism regarding the general direction of the fiscal policy in the eurozone. Some are saying that the continuation of deflationary and contractionary policies in the eurozone is self-defeating. I mean that the eurozone cannot really achieve its fiscal targets because of the recession and that the mixture of measures adopted throughout the crisis, and especially in the South, is wrong. I was wondering what your reaction is to this criticism

You are right, there is a debate on that. It is partly coming from the academic world. The Eurogroup has a very clear view on that. The strategy is the right one, and the strategy is working, because there is progress. The population doesn't see that, because they look at their income, they look at the employment situation, and it's very difficult, and we know that, it is painful. But when we, as economists, look at the overall developments, one can see real progress, in Greece, but also in the other Southern European countries, in Portugal and Spain, and of course in Ireland. Competitiveness is improving, also in Greece, because of the drop in income and cuts in nominal wages and salaries. As competitiveness is improving, exports are growing again, despite the fact that the overall economy is shrinking, and the trade deficit is falling. The fiscal deficits are coming down too.

He says more, this is someone who either has absolutely no clue as to the record of real world implications of the policy he supports (and he's the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism) - thus falling victim to his own propaganda; or is cynically propagating this argument to help extend plunder and disaster as much as possible, with no regard to the economic desert he is helping create...
In an ideal world he's be sitting in the docks at a new fiscal Nuremberg along with his superiors and buddies from the policy and banking elites...

[BTW competitiveness (what ever it means) is actually falling ever since the ordeal started]

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake