The new Greek government program | 171 comments (171 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Not so fast? (4.00 / 2)

Yikes! #IMF not on board with approval of #Greece list. Excerpt from letter from @Lagarde to @J_Dijsselbloem pic.twitter.com/2nx20p8RV2
— Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) febrero 24, 2015

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 09:33:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (4.00 / 3)

It always comes down to Labor market 'reform'! Because a Government can only pay its debt, if it makes it simpler for people in the private sector to be fired. It makes total sense.

by rz on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 09:38:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (4.00 / 4)

But it seams to be a done deal. I just read some twitter stuff that the Eurogroup has accepted. What I find interesting that in the end it is the IMF who objects. The IMF and Lagard have often been painted as the good guys. But from what I know Lagard buys 100% into Expansionary austerity. And the IMF might have a economics department which produces reasonable research but this has zero impact on the actual politics.

by rz on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 09:45:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (4.00 / 4)

The IMF and Lagard have often been painted as the good guys.

It's simply that the IMF isn't hung up about debt but about neo-lib 'reforms'.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 11:15:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 1)

rz:

But from what I know Lagard buys 100% into Expansionary austerity.

Yes, while making occasional token mouth-noises to the contrary, I suppose to reassure attentive observers that she is not really as stupid as her actions suggest.

A bit like when sadists say 'This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you'.

Another well-coiffed confabulator of the first water...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 04:31:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

ECB on board (none / 1)

@WhelanKarl: So what exactly is "stabilise the payments culture" a euphemism for? http://t.co/laBUBhVmoX
— Karl Whelan (@WhelanKarl) febrero 24, 2015

Our initial impression is that the document covers a wide range of reform areas and in this sense, it is sufficiently comprehensive to be a valid starting point for a successful conclusion of the review. However, as we expected it was not possible for the authorities to elaborate on concrete proposals and commitments that can be assessed by the institutions in respect to growth, public finances and financial stability. Given the very limited time a vailable, this is understand

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 10:19:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: ECB on board (4.00 / 4)

I replied to Whalen's tweet that it could mean the gov't should not balance the budget by neglecting to pay whole swaths of workers, as has been done over the last several years.

The previous gov't has also been in arrears to hospitals, pharmacies and utilities.

While these constitute debt and obligations for the state, use of such measures allowed them to achieve balanced budgets 2 or 3 years ago. I believe that most of the payments have been made to hospitals and utilities, not so sure about all workers.

by Upstate NY on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 02:00:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 0)

... Can we conclude from this that "the Troika" is indeed dead and buried?

Long live "the Institutions"!

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 11:20:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 1)

Expanding on this inchoate reaction :

What are the consequences if the IMF says "hey this is not OK"?

Concretely, how much fresh money is the IMF scheduled to provide? What are the consequences if they walk away?
Or will their objections be overruled?
Or do they still have veto power? In which case, the "troika" is still in business, and the shit hits the fan.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 01:47:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (4.00 / 3)

"What are the consequences if the IMF says "hey this is not OK"?"

They don't say that for the moment, but they reserve the right to do so in the next round of negotiations.

I don't know if the complete Lagarde letter has already been linked to on one of the different threads here, but here is the whole package of statements and letters as pdf in English and German for the Bundestag's information. Lagarde's letter is on page 20. She definitely still claims veto power.

by Katrin on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 04:49:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 0)

Does the 'next round' mean in four month?

by rz on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 04:52:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 0)

That's how I interpret the letter.

by Katrin on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 04:58:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (4.00 / 2)

Greece has to work out detailed plans by April which will be "approved" again, I am rather guessing that that's what is meant.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:10:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not so fast? (none / 0)

Link is broken.

by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 05:11:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Does this work for you? (none / 1)

http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/18/040/1804093.pdf

by Katrin on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 05:16:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Does this work for you? (none / 0)

Thank you.

by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 05:25:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Does this work for you? (4.00 / 2)

I find it highly interesting and positive that the letter from Draghi contains this:

"...the commitments outlined by the authorities (Greece) differ from existing programme material in a number of areas. In such cases, we will have to assess during the review whether measures which are not accepted by the authorities are replaced with measures of equal or better quality in terms of achieving the objectives of the program me."

To me this reads that Varoufakis even convinced Draghi to support the Syriza programme somewhat.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 06:13:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The new Greek government program | 171 comments (171 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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