“We open our arms, on these very moments, to those who are the weak, and I believe this reflects the feelings of the vast majority of the Greek people. Despite our difficulties we keep an attitude of dignity, and this is much greater wealth and much larger surplus ….”
Philanthropy in Ancient Greek means then Love of human , and was the purpose of life of the civilized man
Philanthropy to be sustainable?.. could be, by the tycoons for #Greece.
“For six months we fought an uneven war, We suffered losses but we gained ground too, Now a minefield lies ahead of us.”
Tsipras had said speaking Friday night before the Parliamenary vote. He said the government had a “mandate from the Greek people to bring a better agreement, “but we do not have a mandate to take the country out of the eurozone” he underlined
“It is a choice of high national responsibility, we have a national duty to keep our people alive … We will succeed, not only to stay in Europe but to live as equal peers with dignity and pride,” Tsipras said.
“For the first time, we have on the table a substantial discussion for a debt restructuring,” Alexis Tsipras emphasized on his speech, insisting that with the latest proposals he had won important concessions from the creditors, and the new deal was better than the one rejected by the Greek people with the YES or NO referendum last week.
Meanwhile an EU source told AFP that Greece’s international creditors reviewed the Athens’ proposals and considered it a good basis for a new bailout.
There has been no other government in modern history that, while on the edge of a default, on the most dramatic way, has kept negotiating to the very end with Persistance and Pride
Yes we have made mistakes, AlexTsipras said.
No one is unmistakable, and first of all, me
Bu we managed to light the flame of Solidaity in Europe for the very first time
Now we have to keep alive our folk to keep fighting for its right
Im sure that the passion of this folk for Life and Dignity
will make it
and that it will open new roads for the countries of Europe
But the Greek Prime Minister is left now with an interior bleeding gap in the government, after loosing 15 YES votes of his own coalition lawmakers Even Mr. Tsipras’s party, Syriza, which drafted the proposals with help from French experts, seemed confused, noted the NYT aricle on Friday. The culture minister, Nikos Xydakis, had described on Friday the proposed measures as “very tough.”
“No, it’s not a better deal. It’s a tough deal and the only one we can get right now.”
Minister Nikos Xydakis, though, voted YES in Parliament on Friday night, but did not do the same all of Alexis Tsipas governments’ ministers. Minister of Developement Panayiotis Lafazanis , and Minister of Labour Stratoulis voted PRESENT ( which counts as not a yes). Rumors said after that, hours later on Saturday morning, that Tsipras asked them to resign.
Before and beyond all these abstract, and shocking to a whole, awake till 4 in the morning Greek public, Yiannis Varoufakis counted as ABSENT vote for his own (disastrous)t, negotiation plan, that he had started and ended up, on the very last minute in the hands of his “friend and long term comrade Eukleid Tsakalotos’ as Yianis himself had said for the present Greek Finance Minister, because Yianis on this very moment for Greece, decided to …travel to Aigina for family reasons.
” If I would be there I would vote Yes” he said on a a writen letter he sent to the Parliament. But he wasn’t, so his name counted as absent.
Two other top ministers, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Houdis, and deputy minister of Defence Kostas Isihos stated that they voted Yes, as not to cause more danger to the governmenet, but they openly defined that their thesis is No.
So what is all that confusion about, that made even the governmenet itself to burn out, leaving again Greek people in a desperate mind blow? And also, leaving also stigmatized the Greek Left,as showing no unity, and the whole world to stare breathless to Greece, again?
Greece Isn’t to Blame for the Crisis, wrote the Foreign Affairs article few days before, explaning Why :
We’ve never understood Greece because we have refused to see the crisis for what it was—a continuation of a series of bailouts for the financial sector that started in 2008 and that rumbles on today. It’s so much easier to blame the Greeks and then be surprised when they refuse to play along with the script.
There is a big truth, told openly to the world the Foreign Affairs article….and it is what the European elites buried deep within their supposed bailouts for Greece. Namely, the bailouts weren’t for Greece at all, explained the article. They were bailouts-on-the-quiet for Europe’s big banks, and taxpayers in core countries are now being stuck with the bill since the Greeks have refused to pay.
It is this hidden game that lies at the heart of Greece’s decision to say “no” and Europe’s inability to solve the problem, the article underlines.
it wrote. The roots of the crisis lie far away from Greece; they lie in the architecture of European banking.
When the euro came into existence in 1999,not only did the Greeks get to borrow like the Germans, everyone’s banks got to borrow and lend in what was effectively a cheap foreign currency. And with super-low rates, countries clamoring to get into the euro, and a continent-wide credit boom underway, it made sense for national banks to expand private lending as far as the euro could reach, explained the Foreign Affairs article in the start of the week
To fix the problem, someone in core Europe is going to have to own up to all of the above and admit that their money wasn’t given to lazy Greeks but to already-bailed bankers who, despite a face-value haircut, ended up making a profit on the deal.
Ajit Ninan and Jug Suraiya, Times of India, July 6, 2015
Doing so would, however, also entail admitting that by shifting, quite deliberately, responsibility from reckless lenders to irresponsible (national) borrowers,
Europe regenerated exactly the type of petty nationalism, in which moral Germans face off against corrupt Greeks, that the EU was designed to eliminate
Despite Germany being a serial defaulter that received debt relief four times in the twentieth century, Chancellor Angela Merkel is not about to cop to bailing out D-Bank and pinning it on the Greeks.
At the time of writing,
the ECB is not only violating its own statutes by limiting emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks,
but is also raising the haircuts on Greek collateral offered for new cash. In other words, the ECB, far from being an independent central bank, is acting as the eurogroup’s enforcer, despite the risk that doing so poses to the European project as a whole.
Paul Krugman of the New York Times likened the Troika’s demands to medieval doctors when he wrote,
the truth is that Europe’s self-styled technocrats are like medieval doctors who insisted on bleeding their patients. And when their bleeding treatment made the patients sicker, demanded even more bleeding.
Against all advice of many important economists, Europe and the Troika insist on drip-feeding Greece. Against this, a group of economists including Thomas Piketty and an experts to the RealNews Network on the Euro crisis, Heiner Flassbeck, has penned an open letter to Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, published in the Nation magazine.
It makes a plea for debt forgiveness. They wrote:
We cannot demand that generations must pay for decades of the mistakes of their parents.
The Greeks have, without a doubt, made big mistakes. Until 2009 the government in Athens forged its books.
But despite this, the younger generation of Greeks carries no more responsibility for the mistakes of its elders than the younger generations of Germans did in the 1950s and ’60s. We need to look ahead.
Europe was founded on debt forgiveness and investment in the future, not on the idea of endless penance. We need to remember this, they wrote.
It was on this point that Alexis Tsipras had emphasized speaking in the Europarliament the previous week, just after the referendum, and addressing to all the euroleaders, noting that the Foundation of Europe in the modern history was build on this, exactly, brave practise of solidarity and forgiveness, shown by the countries that were ruined by Germany, but though, Greece at least, “donated” to Germany the 60% of its dept.
Confusion and political paralyisis in Greece, bottom line, no matter how much in cold blood, the leftists lawmakers ended up to almost “tombled” their, first in history Left government that has ever existed in Greece, popps out from the main core of the cause, finally, that makes to a majority of Greek people, (with the majority of Greek lives been humiliated), even a Grexit to seem more promising, than obeying to this Germany- ruled Europe, which, ironically, is called a Union: the total absence of Empathy, Humanitarianism and Solidarity, in Principles and Pracise
Poll : Greeks do not fear Grexit on of 63% by poll conducted before the closure of the banks and the anouncement of referendum, which also brought 61+% NO vote to austerity harsh measures the creditors demanded when the negotiations with Greece broke
What are the consequences for creditors if Greece defaults? http://bloom.bg/1NY6vuY
Τhe Greek Proposal to the Eurozone (full text in English).
The Greek proposal to the Eurozone (full text) includes what the Greek government is proposing in reforms and cuts. A condensed version of the proposal in Greek is here.
1. 2015 supplementary budget and 2016-19 MTFS1
Adopt effective as of July 1, 2015 a supplementary 2015 budget and a 2016–19 medium-term fiscal strategy, supported by a sizable and credible package of measures. The new fiscal path is premised on a primary surplus target of (1, 2, 3), and 3.5 percent of GDP in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The package includes VAT reforms (¶2), other tax policy measures (¶3), pension reforms (¶4), public administration reforms (¶5), reforms addressing shortfalls in tax collection enforcement (¶6), and other parametric measures as specified below.
2. VAT reform
Adopt legislation to reform the VAT system that will be effective as of July 1, 2015. The reform will target a net revenue gain of 1 percent of GDP on an annual basis from parametric changes. The new VAT system will: (i) unify the rates at a standard 23 percent rate, which will include restaurants and catering, and a reduced 13 percent rate for basic food, energy, hotels, and water (excluding sewage), and a super-reduced rate of 6 percent for pharmaceuticals, books, and theater; (ii) streamline exemptions to broaden the base and raise the tax on insurance; and (iii) Eliminate discounts on islands, starting with the islands with higher incomes and which are the most popular tourist destinations, except the most remote ones. This will be completed by end-2016, as appropriate and targeted fiscally neutral measures to compensate those inhabitants that are most in need are determined. The new VAT rates on hotels and islands will be implemented from October 2015.
The increase of the VAT rate described above may be reviewed at the end of 2016, provided that equivalent additional revenues are collected through measures taken against tax evasion and to improve collectability of VAT. Any decision to review and revise shall take place in consultation with the institutions.
3. Fiscal structural measures
Adopt legislation to:
·close possibilities for income tax avoidance (e.g., tighten the definition of farmers), take measures to increase the corporate income tax in 2015 and require 100 percent advance payments for corporate income and gradually for individual business income tax by 2017; phase out the preferential tax treatment of farmers in the income tax code by 2017; raise the solidarity surcharge;
·abolish subsidies for excise on diesel oil for farmers and better target eligibility to halve heating oil subsidies expenditure in the budget 2016;
·in view of any revision of the zonal property values, adjust the property tax rates if necessary to safeguard the 2015 and 2016 property tax revenues at €2.65 billion and adjust the alternative minimum personal income taxation.
·eliminate the cross-border withholding tax introduced by the installments act (law XXXX/2015) and reverse the recent amendments to the ITC in the public administration act (law XXXX/2015), including the special treatment of agricultural income.
·adopt outstanding reforms on the codes on income tax, and tax procedures: introduce a new Criminal Law on Tax Evasion and Fraud to amend the Special Penal Law 2523/1997 and any other relevant legislation, and replace Article 55, ¶s 1 and 2, of the TPC, with a view, inter alia, to modernize and broaden the definition of tax fraud and evasion to all taxes; abolish all Code of Book and Records fines, including those levied under law 2523/1997 develop the tax framework for collective investment vehicles and their participants consistently with the ITC and in line with best practices in the EU.
·adopt legislation to upgrade the organic budget law to: (i) introduce a framework for independent agencies; (ii) phase out ex-ante audits of the Hellenic Court of Auditors and account officers (ypologos); (iii) give GDFSs exclusive financial service capacity and GAO powers to oversee public sector finances; and (iv) phase out fiscal audit offices by January 2017.
·increase the rate of the tonnage tax and phase out special tax treatments of the shipping industry.
By September 2015, (i) simplify the personal income tax credit schedule; (ii) re-design and integrate into the ITC the solidarity surcharge for income of 2016 to more effectively achieve progressivity in the income tax system; (iii) issue a circular on fines to ensure the comprehensive and consistent application of the TPC; (iv) and other remaining reforms as specified in ¶9 of the IMF Country Report No. 14/151.
On health care, effective as of July 1, 2015, (i) re-establish full INN prescription, without exceptions, (ii) reduce as a first step the price of all off-patent drugs to 50 percent and all generics to 32.5 percent of the patent price, by repealing the grandfathering clause for medicines already in the market in 2012, and (iii)) review and limit the prices of diagnostic tests to bring structural spending in line with claw back targets; and (iv) collect in the full the 2014 clawback for private clinics, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, and extend their 2015 clawback ceilings to 2016.
Launch the Social Welfare Review under the agreed terms of reference with the technical assistance of the World Bank to target savings of ½ percent of GDP which can help finance a fiscally neutral gradual roll-out of the GMI in January 2016.
Adopt legislation to:
·reduce the expenditure ceiling for military spending by €100 million in 2015 and by €200 million in 2016 with a targeted set of actions, including a reduction in headcount and procurement;
·introduce reform of the income tax code, [inter alia covering capital taxation], investment vehicles, farmers and the self- employed, etc.;
·raise the corporate tax rate from 26% to 28%;
·introduce tax on television advertisements;
·announce international public tender for the acquisition of television licenses and usage related fees of relevant frequencies; and
·extend implementation of luxury tax on recreational vessels in excess of 5 meters and increase the rate from 10% to 13%, coming into effect from the collection of 2014 income taxes and beyond;
·extend Gross Gaming Revenues (GGR) taxation of 30% on VLT games expected to be installed at second half of 2015 and 2016;
·generate revenues through the issuance of 4G and 5G licenses.
We will consider some compensating measures, in case of fiscal shortfalls: (i) Increase the tax rate to income for rents, for annual incomes below €12,000 to 15% (from 11%) with an additional revenue of €160 million and for annual incomes above €12,000 to 35% (from 33%) with an additional revenue of €40 million; (ii) the corporate income tax will increase by an additional percentage point (i.e. from 28% to 29%) that will result in additional revenues of €130 million.
4. Pension reform
The Authorities recognise that the pension system is unsustainable and needs fundamental reforms. This is why they will implement in full the 2010 pension reform law (3863/2010), and implement in full or replace/adjust the sustainability factors for supplementary and lump-sum pensions from the 2012 reform as a part of the new pension reform in October 2015 to achieve equivalent savings and take further steps to improve the pension system.
Effective from July 1, 2015 the authorities will phase-in reforms that would deliver estimated permanent savings of ¼-½ percent of GDP in 2015 and 1 percent of GDP on a full year basis in 2016 and thereafter by adopting legislation to:
·create strong disincentives to early retirement, including the adjustment of early retirement penalties, and through a gradual elimination of grandfathering to statutory retirement age and early retirement pathways progressively adapting to the limit of statutory retirement age of 67 years, or 62 and 40 years of contributions by 2022, applicable for all those retiring (except arduous professions, and mothers with children with disability) with immediate application;
·adopt legislation so that withdrawals from the Social Insurance Fund will incur an annual penalty, for those affected by the extension of the retirement age period, equivalent to 10 percent on top of the current penalty of 6 percent;
·integrate into ETEA all supplementary pension funds and ensure that, starting January 1, 2015, all supplementary pension funds are only financed by own contributions;
·better target social pensions by increasing OGA uninsured pension;
·Gradually phase out the solidarity grant (EKAS) for all pensioners by end-December 2019. This shall be legislated immediately and shall start as regards the top 20% of beneficiaries in March 2016 with the modalities of the phase out to be agreed with the institutions;
·freeze monthly guaranteed contributory pension limits in nominal terms until 2021;
·provide to people retiring after 30 June 2015 the basic, guaranteed contributory, and means tested pensions only at the attainment of the statutory normal retirement age of currently 67 years;
·increase the health contributions for pensioners from 4% to 6% on average and extend it to supplementary pensions;
·phase out all state-financed exemptions and harmonize contribution rules for all pension funds with the structure of contributions to IKA from 1 July 2015;
Moreover, in order to restore the sustainability of the pension system, the authorities will by 31 October 2015, legislate further reforms to take effect from 1 January 2016; (i) specific design and parametric improvements to establish a closer link between contributions and benefits; (ii) broaden and modernize the contribution and pension base for all self-employed, including by switching from notional to actual income, subject to minimum required contribution rules; (iii) revise and rationalize all different systems of basic, guaranteed contributory and means tested pension components, taking into account incentives to work and contribute; (iv) the main elements of a comprehensive SSFs consolidation, including any remaining harmonization of contribution and benefit payment rules and procedures across all funds; (v) abolish all nuisance charges financing pensions and offset by reducing benefits or increasing contributions in specific funds to take effect from 31 October 2015; and (vi) harmonize pension benefit rules of the agricultural fund (OGA) with the rest of the pension system in a pro rata manner, unless OGA is merged into other funds.
The consolidation of social insurance funds will take place by end 2017. In 2015, the process will be activated through legislation to consolidate the social insurance funds under a single entity and the operational consolidation will have been completed by 31 December 2016. Further reductions in the operating costs and a more effective management of fund resources including improved balancing of needs between better-off and poorer-off funds will be actively encouraged.
The authorities will adopt legislation to fully offset the fiscal effects of the implementation of court rulings on the 2012 pension reform.
In parallel to the reform of the pension system, a Social Welfare Review will be carried out to ensure fairness of the various reforms.
The institutions are prepared to take into account other parametric measures within the pension system of equivalent effect to replace some of the measures mentioned above, taking into account their impact on growth, and provided that such measures are presented to the institutions during the design phase and are sufficiently concrete and quantifiable, and in the absence of this the default option is what is specified above.
5. Public Administration, Justice and Anti Corruption
Adopt legislation to:
·reform the unified wage grid, effective 1 January, 2016, setting the key parameters in a fiscally neutral manner and consistent with the agreed wage bill targets and with comprehensive application across the public sector, including decompressing the wage distribution across the wage spectrumin connection with the skill, performance and responsibility of staff. (The authorities will also adopt legislation to rationalise the specialised wage grids, by end-November 2015);
·align non-wage benefits such as leave arrangements, per diems, travel allowances and perks, with best practices in the EU, effective 1 January 2016;
·establish within the new MTFS ceilings for the wage bill and the level of public employment consistent with achieving the fiscal targets and ensuring a declining path of the wage bill relative to GDP until 2019;
·hire managers and assess performance of all employees (with the aim to complete the hiring of new managers by 31 December 2015 subsequent to a review process)
·introduce a new permanent mobility scheme applied by Q4 2015. The scheme will promote the use of job description and will be linked with an online database that will include all current vacancies. Final decision on employee mobility will be taken by each service concerned. This will rationalize the allocation of resources as well as the staffing across the General Government.
·reform the Civil Procedure Code, in line with previous agreements; introduce measures to reduce the backlog of cases in administrative courts; work closely with European institutions and technical assistance on e-justice, mediation and judicial statistics
·strengthen the governance of ELSTAT. It shall cover (i) the role and structure of the Advisory bodies of the Hellenic Statistical System, including the recasting of the Council of ELSS to an advisory Committee of the ELSS, and the role of the Good Practice Advisory Committee (GPAC); (ii) the recruitment procedure for the President of ELSTAT, to ensure that a President of the highest professional calibre is recruited, following transparent procedures and selection criteria; (iii) the involvement of ELSTAT as appropriate in any legislative or other legal proposal pertaining to any statistical matter; (iv) other issues that impact the independence of ELSTAT, including financial autonomy, the empowerment of ELSTAT to reallocate existing permanent posts and to hire staff where it is needed and to hire specialised scientific personnel, and the classification of the institution as a fiscal policy body in the recent law 4270/2014; role and powers of Bank of Greece in statistics in line with European legislation.
·Publish a revised Strategic Plan against Corruption by 31 July 2015. Amend and implement the legal framework for the declaration of assets and financing of the political parties and adopt legislation insulating financial crime and anti-corruption investigations from political intervention in individual cases.
Moreover, in collaboration with the OECD, the Authorities will:
·Strengthen controls in public entities and especially SOEs. Empower the Line Ministries to perform robust audit and control inspections to supervised entities including SOEs.
·Strengthen controls and internal audit processes in high spending Local Government Institutions and their supervised legal entities.
·Strengthen controls in public and private investment cases funded either by national or co-funded by other sources, public works and public procurement (e.g. in health sector, SDIT).
·Strengthen transparency and control processes and skills in tax and customs authorities.
·Assess major risks in the public procurement cycle, taking in consideration the recent developments (Central Purchasing and e-Procurement: KHMDHS and ESHDHS) and the need to have a clear governance framework. Develop strategy according to the assessment(Q4 2015)
·Implement strategy to mitigate public procurement risks.(Q1 2016)
·Assess 2 specific sectors, Health and Public Works in order to understand the existing constrains related to corruption and waste risks and propose measures to address them. Develop and implement strategy. (Q4 2015)
6. Tax administration
Take the following actions to:
·Adopt legislation to establish an autonomous revenue agency, that specifies: (i) the agency’s legal form, organization, status, and scope; (ii) the powers and functions of the CEO and the independent Board of Governors; (iii) the relationship to the Minister of Finance and other government entities; (iv) the agency’s human resource flexibility and relationship to the civil service; (v) budget autonomy, with own GDFS and a new funding formula to align incentives with revenue collection and guarantee budget predictability and flexibility; (vi) reporting to the government and parliament; and (vii) the immediate transfer of all tax- and customs-related capacities and duties and all tax- and customs-related staff in SDOE and other entities to the agency.
·on garnishments, adopt legislation to eliminate the 25 percent ceiling on wages and pensions and lower all thresholds of €1,500 while ensuring in all cases reasonable living conditions; accelerate procurement of IT infrastructure to automatize e-garnishment; improve tax debt write-off rules; remove tax officers’ personal liabilities for not pursuing old debt; remove restrictions on conducting audits of tax returns from 2012 subject to the external tax certificate scheme; and enforce if legally possible upfront payment collection in tax disputes.
·amend (i) the 2014–15 tax and SSC debt installment schemes to exclude those who fail to pay current obligations and introduce a requirement for the tax and social security administrations to shorten the duration for those with the capacity to pay earlier and introduce market-based interest rates; the LDU and KEAO will assess by September 2015 the large debtors with tax and SSC debt exceeding €1 million (e.g. verify their capacity to pay and take corrective action) and (ii) the basic installment scheme/TPC to adjust the market-based interest rates and suspend until end-2017 third-party verification and bank guarantee requirements.
·adopt legislation to accelerate de-registration procedures and limit VAT re-registration to protect VAT revenues and accelerate procurement of network analysis software; and provide the Presidential Decree needed for the significantly strengthening the reorganisation of the VAT enforcement section in order to strengthen VAT enforcement and combat VAT carousel fraud. The authorities will submit an application to the EU VAT Committee and prepare an assessment of the implication of an increase in the VAT threshold to €25.000.
·combat fuel smuggling, via legislative measures for locating storage tanks (fixed or mobile);
·Produce a comprehensive plan with technical assistance for combating tax evasion which includes (i) identification of undeclared deposits by checking bank transactions in banking institutions in Greece or abroad, (ii) introduction of a voluntary disclosure program with appropriate sanctions, incentives and verification procedures, consistent with international best practice, and without any amnesty provisions (iii) request from EU member states to provide data on asset ownership and acquisition by Greek citizens, (iv) renew the request for technical assistance in tax administration and make full use of the resource in capacity building, (v) establish a wealth registry to improve monitoring.
·develop a costed plan for the promotion of the use of electronic payments, making use of the EU Structural and Investment Fund;
·Create a time series database to monitor the balance sheets of parent-subsisdiary companies to improve risk analysis criteria for transfer pricing
7. Financial sector
Adopt:
(i) amendments to the corporate and household insolvency laws including to cover all debtors and bring the corporate insolvency law in line with the OCW law;
(ii) amendments to the household insolvency law to introduce a mechanism to separate strategic defaulters from good faith debtors as well as simplify and strengthen the procedures and introduce measures to address the large backlog of cases;
(iii) amendments to improve immediately the judicial framework for corporate and household insolvency matters;
(iv) legislation to establish a regulated profession of insolvency administrators, not restricted to any specific profession and in line with good cross-country experience;
(v) a comprehensive strategy for the financial system: this strategy will build on the strategy document from 2013, taking into account the new environment and conditions of the financial system and with a view of returning the banks in private ownership by attracting international strategic investors and to achieve a sustainable funding model over the medium term; and
(vi) a holistic NPL resolution strategy, prepared with the help of a strategic consultant.
8. Labour market
Launch a consultation process to review the whole range of existing labour market arrangements, taking into account best practices elsewhere in Europe. Further input to the consultation process described above will be provided by international organisations, including the ILO. The organization and timelines shall be drawn up in consultation with the institutions. In this context, legislation on a new system of collective bargaining should be ready by Q4 2015. The authorities will take actions to fight undeclared work in order to strengthen the competitiveness of legal companies and protect workers as well as tax and social security revenues.
9. Product market
Adopt legislation to:
·implement all pending recommendations of the OECD competition toolkit I, except OTC pharmaceutical products, starting with: tourist buses, truck licenses, code of conduct for traditional foodstuff, eurocodes on building materials, and all the OECD toolkit II recommendations on beverages and petroleum products;
·In order to foster competition and increase consumer welfare immediately launch a new competition assessment, in collaboration and with the technical support of the OECD, on wholesale trade, construction, e-commerce and media. The assessment will be concluded by Q1 2016.The recommendations will be adopted by Q2 2016.
·open the restricted professions of engineers, notaries, actuaries, and bailiffs and liberalize the market for tourist rentals ;
·eliminate non-reciprocal nuisance charges and align the reciprocal nuisance charges to the services provided;
·reduce red tape, including on horizontal licensing requirements of investments and on low-risk activities as recommended by the World Bank, and administrative burden of companies based on the OECD recommendations, and (ii) establish a committee for the inter-ministerial preparation of legislation. Technical assistance of the World Bank will be sought to implement the easing of licensing requirements.
·design electronic one-stop shops for businesses through analysing information obligations businesses have to comply with, structuring them accordingly and helping to design a project on developing the necessary ICT tools and infrastructure (Q3 2015). Setting up the institutional & co-ordination structure, identification of the business life events to be included, identification and mapping of information obligations & administrative procedures and training of officials (Q4 2015). Launch (Q1 2016)
·adopt the reform of the gas market and its specific roadmap, and implementation should follow suit.
·take irreversible steps (including announcement of date for submission of binding offers) to privatize the electricity transmission company, ADMIE, or provide by October 2015 an alternative scheme, with equivalent results in terms of competition, in line with the best European practices to provide full ownership unbundling from PPC, while ensuring independence.
On electricity markets, the authorities will reform the capacity payments system and other electricity market rules to avoid that some plants are forced to operate below their variable cost, and to prevent the netting of the arrears between PPC and market operator; set PPC tariffs based on costs, including replacement of the 20% discount for HV users with cost based tariffs; and notify NOME products to the European Commission. The authorities will also continue the implementation of the roadmap to the EU target model prepare a new framework for the support of renewable energies and for the implementation of energy efficiency and review energy taxation; the authorities will strengthen the electricity regulator’s financial and operational independence;
10. Privatization
·The Board of Directors of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund will approve its Asset Development Plan which will include for privatisation all the assets under HRDAF as of 31/12/2014; and the Cabinet will endorse the plan.
·To facilitate the completion of the tenders, the authorities will complete all government pending actions including those needed for the regional airports, TRAINOSE, Egnatia, the ports of Pireaus and Thessaloniki and Hellinikon (precise list in Technical Memorandum). This list of actions is updated regularly and the Government will ensure that all pending actions are timely implemented.
·The government and HRADF will announce binding bid dates for Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports of no later than end-October 2015, and for TRAINOSE ROSCO, with no material changes in the terms of the tenders.
·The government will transfer the state’s shares in OTE to the HRADF.
·Take irreversible steps for the sale of the regional airports at the current terms with the winning bidder already selected.
your apology, Mr.Schultz …
Yiannis Siatras, Greek activist and economist, who sent to M.Schultz extrajudicial file asking him to apologize to the Greek people for interfering in Referendum proceedure
the banks closure, the most powerful terrifying tool to manipulate public opinion to a YES, so much expected by euroleaders
Propaganda, not unknown in Greece at all, especially tried and tested by memorandum govts, led to a strong NO (OXI) reaction at the referendum vote
Our courageous No to a Non-solidarity Europe. #Proud2beGreek , Visit our #Greferendum updated Home Page. This is Greek to me ! Stay with us, 24/7
On his last statement for the Sunday Referendum, on Friday 03/07, Alexis Tsipras emphasized on the IMF’s report for Greece’s dept, that was finally revealed by the Internationay Monetary Fund officialy, after it was leaked when it had been provided to the German MP’s by the German Parliament
“Yesterday an event of major political importance happened,” Tsipras said. “The IMF published a report on Greece’s economy which is…”
…” great vindication for the Greek government as it confirms the obvious – that Greek debt is not sustainable.”
The fund published a draft of its latest analysis of Greece’s public debt yesterday, detailing a litany of factors that “render the debt dynamics unsustainable.” That’s a bureaucratic way of saying that there’s no chance that the country’s lenders will ever be repaid in full, commented the Quarz on Thursay, under the title Cant Pay, won’t pay
The International Monetary Fund conceded a point on Thursday that the Athens government has long been making, the NYT on Friday, 02/07 wrote :
Without some reduction in the country’s staggering debt load, Greece has little hope of a sustained economic recovery.
The report is likely to stoke tensions with Greece’s European creditors at a critical moment, just ahead of a Greek national referendum on Sunday over whether to accept a bailout package that Mr. Tsipras has opposed — in part because it does not contain debt relief. By essentially concluding that any new bailout deal for Greece must include debt relief, the I.M.F., whether intentionally or not, turned up the pressure on Europe to acknowledge that point, the NYT wrote on July 3. lose
“They have Closed our banks as to blackmail the Greeks for a Yes to a deal without dept restructuring, while dept is definitely not sustainable”
This is was what the “Take it or Leave it” Ultimatum for Greece was about, handled by President Tusk, said Yiannis Varoufakis,talking on the State Televion News, on July 1, hours after a leak of an IMF document to a German newspaper that was proving, indeed, that Greece’s dept was admitted not to be sustainable
the IMF leaked document provided to the German MPsA senior I.M.F. official said the organization released the report Thursday because elements of it were leaking out.. This was what the leaked document was saying
Even if Greece accepted all of the austerity measures demanded by its main creditors, the Troika, it still would not be able to make ends meet by 2030,
according to IMF estimates revealed in a set of documents obtained by a German newspaper.
The most optimistic scenario shows that Greece would face an unsustainable debt in 2030 even if it agreed to the package of tax increases and spending cuts proposed by the European commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF in exchange for a five-month €15.5bn loan from its creditors.
These prospects were outlined in six documents that were part of the “final” proposal offered to Greece by the three main creditors on Friday. The papers were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and seen by The Guardian.
The estimates provide support for Greece’s decision not to accept the bailout deal. They prove that for Greece to survive economically, it needs real debt relief measures, not austerity reforms.
According to the IMF, Greece would be unable to sustain a debt level of 118% of GDP. In 2012, the organization said that 110% of GDP is the highest debt threshold the country could take on.
Currently the country’s debt level amounts to 175% of GDP, and that percentage could easily rise if the country were to slip into recession.
The documents stressed that
even if Greece posted stellar economic growth for 15 years, the debt level would still be higher than 110% of GDP,
adding that Greece had no chance of meeting that target.
Even if the economy managed to maintain a growth rate of 4% a year for the next five years, the national debt level would only decline to 124%.
“It is clear that the policy slippages and uncertainties of the last months have made the achievement of the 2012 targets impossible under any scenario,”
one of six secret documents, titled the Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis for Greece, stated.
There are also mentions of much needed “significant concessions,” but no specifics are revealed.
The files were reportedly sent to all German MPs for review and approval, but were never voted on since Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected the proposal and called for a referendum.
Other documents reveal further details about the proposed deal.
For example, there is a description of how Greece would eventually gain access to €15 billion. The plan was to consist of five separate tranches beginning as soon as June.
They were said to cover Greece’s immediate financing needs, with 93% of the money going towards paying the cost of maturing debt.
Other details were about reforms Greece should be forced to implement if it were to accept the proposal.
The debate over pension reforms was particularly heated. The documents show that the three creditors wanted substantial reform, including changes to early retirement penalties and the phasing out the solidarity grant (EKAS).
Late on Tuesday evening, Greece became the first developed country to default on its international obligations, after the IMF confirmed that it had failed to receive the €1.5 billion debt payment from Athens that was due by the end of June 30.
IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement that Greece had asked for a payment extension earlier on Tuesday and that the Fund’s board would consider it “in due course.”
This was largely expected by the markets. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had warned earlier that Greece would not be able to make its IMF debt payment on time.
the Nobelist Stiglitz: “It is Europe’s attack on Greek Democracy”…”In fact, European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant: it is about power and democracy much more than money and economics.
It’s not about the money, said Columbia Business School’s resident Nobel laureate. It’s about forcing Greece to buckle under.”
It is hard to advise Greeks how to vote on 5 July. Neither alternative – approval or rejection of the troika’s terms – will be easy, and both carry huge risks. A yes vote would mean depression almost without end. Perhaps a depleted country – one that has sold off all of its assets, and whose bright young people have emigrated – might finally get debt forgiveness; perhaps, having shrivelled into a middle-income economy, Greece might finally be able to get assistance from the World Bank. All of this might happen in the next decade, or perhaps in the decade after that.
By contrast, a no vote would at least open the possibility that Greece, with its strong democratic tradition, might grasp its destiny in its own hands. Greeks might gain the opportunity to shape a future that, though perhaps not as prosperous as the past, is far more hopeful than the unconscionable torture of the present.
I know how I would vote.
by pointing to two articles, Bloomberg View columnist Clive Crook, shed light on late June to the other view of Greek drama, Grexit and Greek dept: to the Greek fiasco:
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has the nerve to call for “adults in the room,” as though she finds this all rather trying and her patience is finally wearing thin, wrote Karl Whelan, a professor of economics at University College Dublin, who crisply explains, underlined Clive Crook, why it’s wrong to blame Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Syriza for the mess.
[S]he seems to have forgotten that the IMF were supposed to be the adults in the room for discussions on Greece from 2010 onwards. But rather than adopt an approach consistent with their usual policies, the European-led IMF decided that European countries deserved the opportunity to be saddled with particularly high burdens of debt to the official sector.
Europe, it turns out, has gained very little from European influence at the top of the IMF. The rest of the world should learn from the Greek fiasco that former European politicians can no longer be trusted with the leadership of this crucial institution.
Since Takis Rouliotis revealed in Parliament the Greek dept unsustainable by the IMF reports, It took less than one month for the IMF to publicly confess it, -after five years of bleeding austerity and five months of negotiations made impossible for Tsipras govt –
(from our earlier story on greek2m.org)
Panayiotis Roumeliotis, Greece’s former envoy to the IMF during the critical years of IMF memorandum, said on the public hearing before the “Debt Truth” Committee in the Greek Parliament on Monday June 17, that according to official IMF report, Greece’s debt was “obviously shown not to be sustainable”.. “and so its board had to change its Statute to be able to fund the country”
“They made wrong calculations and overly optimistic estimations,” Roumeliotis told the committee, adding that “responsibility weights not only on our country, which didn’t do what should have been done, but also our partners.”
“If debt restructuring had taken place then [in May 2010], the ‘haircut’ needed would be just 30 pct … which would provide some breathing space to the Greek economy and wouldn’t require a violent fiscal adjustment,” he added.
” But there were secret meetings on that period of 2010, Panagioti Rouleotis revealed, between Germany’s and France’s top Banking Heads and the IMF, in order to delay Greece’s debt restructuring, as it was oficially revealed by then to the IMF executives, Roumeliotis said , so as the two countries’ Banking economy to be saved, but not the Greece’s economy, at all”…
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by @Piratenpartij
It is disappointing that the IMF and the EU have failed to reach a solution that does not require additional retrogressive austerity measures
Any agreement that would require such a violation of human rights and customary international law is contra bonos mores and hence null and void pursuant to Art. 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
30 June 2015
GENEVA ( (Issued as received) –– Two United Nations human rights experts today welcomed the holding of a referendum in Greece to decide by democratic process the path to follow to solve the Greek economic crisis without deterioration in the human rights situation.
The UN Independent Experts on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, and on human rights and international solidarity, Virginia Dandan, stressed that there is much more at stake than debt repayment obligations, echoing a warning* issued earlier this month by the UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky.
“All human rights institutions and mechanisms should welcome the Greek referendum as an eloquent expression of the self-determination of the Greek people in conformity with article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in pursuance of article 25 ICCPR on public participation. Indeed, a democratic and equitable international order requires participation by all concerned stakeholders in decision-making and respect for due process, which can best be achieved through international solidarity and a human rights approach to the solution of all problems, including financial crises.
It is disappointing that the IMF and the EU have failed to reach a solution that does not require additional retrogressive austerity measures. Some leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of holding a referendum in Greece. Why? Referenda are in the best traditions of democratic governance.
No one can expect the Prime Minister of Greece to renounce the commitments he made to the people who elected him with a clear mandate to negotiate a fair solution that does not dismantle Greek democracy and lead to further unemployment and social misery. Capitulating to an ultimatum imposing further austerity measures on the Greek population would be incompatible with the democratic trust placed on the Greek Prime Minister by the electorate.
By nature, every State has the responsibility to protect the welfare of all persons living under its jurisdiction. This encompasses fiscal and budgetary sovereignty and regulatory space which cannot be trumped by outside actors, whether States, inter-governmental organizations or creditors.
Article 103 of the UN Charter stipulates that the Charter provisions prevail over all other treaties, therefore no treaty or loan agreement can force a country to violate the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of its population, nor can a loan agreement negate the sovereignty of a State. Any agreement that would require such a violation of human rights and customary international law is contra bonos mores and hence null and void pursuant to Art. 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
A democratic and equitable international order requires a commercial and financial regime that facilitates the realization of all human rights. Inter-governmental organizations must foster and under no conditions hinder the achievement of the plenitude of human rights.
Foreign debt is no excuse to derogate from or violate human rights or to cause retrogression in contravention of articles 2 and 5 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In 2013, the Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights stated that the policy austerity measures adopted to secure additional financing from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank had pushed the Greek economy into recession and generally undermined the enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.
This is the moment for the international community to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Greece, to respect their democratic will as expressed in a referendum, to proactively help them out of this financial crisis, which finds a major cause in the financial meltdown of 2007-08, for which Greece bears no responsibility.
Indeed, democracy means self-determination, and self-determination often calls for referenda – also in Greece.”
Europe’s helping hand to Greece for five years, wrote Joseph Stiglitz the same critical day, June 30,in Huffington Post has been far different from what one might have expected if there was even a bit of humanity, of European solidarity.
“There was sometimes an element of neo-colonialism: the old White Europeans once again telling their former colonies what to do. More often than not, the policies didn’t work as they were supposed to. There were huge discrepancies between what the Western experts expected and what actually happened.
Somehow, one expected something better of Greece’s Eurozone “partner.” But the demands were every bit as intrusive, and the policies and models were every bit as flawed. The disparity between what the Troika thought would happen and what has emerged has been striking — and not because Greece didn’t do what it was supposed to, but because it did, and the models were very, very flawed. ”
On Sunday’s Referrendum in Greece , conludes Nobelist Stiglitz, both choices could lead to even worse social disruptions, calling, though, the Yes, “austerity and depression without end”. But while with one of them there is some hope, he says, with the other there is not.
(*) Read the statement by the UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights (2 June 2015) – “Greek crisis: Human rights should not stop at doors of international institutions, says UN expert”:
Athens, metro area, Monastiraki square
Europe’s demands – ostensibly aimed at ensuring that Greece can service its foreign debt – are petulant, naive, and fundamentally self-destructive. In rejecting them, the Greeks are not playing games; they are trying to stay alive.
by @jodigraphics15 Greece’s GDP, moreover, has shrunk by 25% since the start of the crisis in 2009. Its government is insolvent. Many of its citizens are hungry, wrote the same day the Project Syndicate
Conditions in Greece today are reminiscent of those in Germany in 1933. Of course, the European Union need not fear the rise of a Greek Hitler, not only because it could easily crush such a regime, but also – and more important – because Greece’s democracy has proved impressively mature throughout the crisis wrote on June 16 the Projet Syndicate
Cover Page Greece by Guardian June 17, 2015
By his personal intervention in the mountaining Greek crisis Tuesday night, and after Alexis Tsipras speech , US Treasury secretary Jack Lew called the Greek Prime Minister to urge him to reach a realistic compromise, under urgent time, the Guardian reported
In a statement, the Treasury revealed that Lew told Tsipras that the Greek people, and the global economy, would suffer if Athens can’t reach a deal with creditors, wrote Guardian
It added:
“Lew underscored the urgency of Greece making a serious move to reach a pragmatic compromise with its creditors.”
Last month, Lew told an audience in London that all sides should “double down” their efforts to get a deal fast.
Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, IMF President Christine Lagarde, Germany’s Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble talk at the start of an Euro zone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels October 21, 2011. REUTERS/Thierry Roge
It was just hours earlier, on Tuesday that the Greek PM, talking on the Parliamentary Commitee of of his party, had said that the International Monetary Fund has “criminal responsibility” for Greece’s debt crisis and called on the country’s European creditors to assess the IMF’s policies.
“The time has come for the IMF’s proposals to be judged not just by us but especially by Europe,” Tsipras told his parliamentary group, two days after the failure of debt talks of the Greek delegation in Brussles with the IMF and the European Union
“Right now, what dominates is the IMF’s harsh views on tough measures, and Europe’s on denying any discussion over debt viability,”
Tsipras said, adding:
“The fixation on cuts… is most likely part of a political plan… to humiliate an entire people that has suffered in the past five years through no fault of its own,”
“The time has come for the IMF’s proposals to be judged in public.. .by Europe,” he told the MPs of his radical left Syriza party, the Guardian had commented
By the ANA/MPA update: Tuesday June 16, 2015 17:25 Instead of a reply, the creditors responded with a five-page document that ignored the preceding negotiations, he added.
He said the institutions were demanding high fiscal targets and refusing to accept the equivalent measures proposed by the Greek side. “This insistence on a programme of cuts that has failed and measures that cannot be accepted is not only wrong, it most likely serves political ends and a plan to humiliate not just the government but the Greek people,” he said.
He also accused the previous New Democracy-PASOK government of setting up “a minefield” to sabotage the present government’s efforts. “We knew that it would not be a walk in the park and that there would be no grace period for us. We threw ourselves into the battle when we were up against a minefield, from the previous government that was seeking a ‘left parenthesis’.”
In a brief review of the government’s work, the prime minister stressed that every decision was a great battle against the memorandum regime. “We intend to continue along these lines so that at the end of our four years we will dismantle the memorandum regime,” he said. Tsipras said the Greek side had repeatedly made clear that the agreement reached could not be a continuation of memorandum policies, of austerity and recession that brought only problems to the country.
Noting that the government would complete its fifth month in power within a few days, he said the party had faced an extremely difficult situation from the start and had managed to get the country to stand on its feet, in spite of the difficulties, taking measures to address the humanitarian crisis and to help those with overdue debts.
He also said the mandate given to the Greek government from the people was not one of “creative ambiguity” but a clear mandate to end policies of austerity in the country after five years of harsh measures that had hugely increased social inequality.
“We will continue to the end with the same calmness and sobriety and determination to find a solution, not just an agreement. We will continue, therefore, to work for a solution,” he said. He stressed that the final agreement must include specific and binding clauses for dealing with the country’s financing problem, which became worse during the five-year memorandum period, with exclusive responsibility on the part of the institutions for this outcome.
Tsipras said that the government was obliged to strive for an agreement that will have clear redistributive elements, will not burden wager earners and pensioners further and will place part of the burden on those that had not paid their share for the exit from the crisis.
At the same time, he added, it must be an agreement that did not extend the uncertainty but ended the discussion on the notorious Grexit once and for all.
“Who pays taxes in this country is exclusively the Greek government’s job. The time has come at last for the oligarchy and not working people to pay for the crisis. Not wage earners, not pensioners. Not the self-employed,” he said.
Despite a clamour of hostile statements in recent days, there are still forces in Europe that recognise the mistakes and understand how critical the situation is, forces working to find a just solution, and these are the forces that must prevail, Tsipras said.
Tuesday June16, 2016 
Who is the liar?Juncker accused Alexis Tsipras’s administration of misleading voters about proposals he had made to help solve the country’s debt crisis.
As Reuters announced, just after Prime Minister’s speech on Parliamentary commitee on Tusday, the president of the European Commission declared
“I don’t care about the Greek government, I do care about the Greek people,” he said noting that many “are suffering more than others in the European Union” from efforts to reduce debts.
“The debate in Greece and outside Greece would be easier if the Greek government would tell exactly what the Commission … is really proposing. I am blaming the Greeks (for telling) things to the Greek public which are not consistent with what I’ve told the Greek prime minister.”
The Greek govt answered acutely, and published, later, the lenders’ proposal script
On that , it is obvious indeed, as the Greek media comment during the last 24h, that the institutions, had asked for pensions cuts and higher electricity bills, as the Greek PM had said. Besides, Greeks voted Tsipras for talking clearly to the people, after five ( at least constant years of lies nad communication chaos .
“We never said it was the view of the Commission, or of Mr Juncker personally,” said the statement referring to the cash-for-reforms proposal that Juncker handed prime minister Alexis Tsipras last week.
The proposal was made by the three institutions (and was handed by Jean Claude Juncker)
The govt statement- that came as an answer, to Jean Claude Junckers’ accusations of misinterprenting the proposal or misinterprenting him-, characterised “positive” the fact that the EU chief had made, even by that way, clear, that he, too, disagrees with several of the proposal’s aspects.
“The Greek government has submitted proposals with measures that fully cover the fiscal gap, transferring the burden from the weakest social classes as well as suggesting a reduction in defense spending.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other foreign leaders in the framework of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. “A working meeting has been scheduled with Alexis Tsipras on Friday, June 19, on the sidelines of the Forum,” he stated. The Kremlin’s spokesman, according to ITAR-TASS, said that Putin will also have working meetings with other foreign leaders who will attend the Forum, including Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yang, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, Prime Minister of Mongolia Chimed Saikhanbileg.
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