The Troika’s Policy in Greece: Rob the Greek people and give the money to private banks, the ECB, the IMF and the dominant States of the Eurozone

On 20 August 2018, the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras, the IMF and the European leaders celebrated the end of the Third Memorandum.

On this occasion, the major media and those in power spread the following message: Greece has regained its freedom, its economy is improving, unemployment is on the decline, Europe has lent Greece 300 billion and the Greeks will have to start repaying that debt in 2022 or in 2032.

The main claims are completely unfounded as Greece remains under the control of its creditors. In compliance with the accords that the Alexis Tsipras government signed, the country must imperatively achieve a primary budgetary surplus of 3.5% which will force it to continue brutal policies of reduction of public spending in the social sector and in investment. Contrary to the dominant message that Greece will not begin to repay its debt until some time in the future, it should be clearly understood that Greece has been repaying considerable amounts constantly all along to the ECB, the IMF and to private creditors, and this prevents it from responding to the needs of its population.

by Eric Toussaint

Part 13 - Let’s return to the film of events as they took place in Europe

The ECB bought up the Greek securities for a total of approximately €56.5 billion, which in fact constituted another bailout of the banks.

But some will say that the Greeks actually benefited from the purchases. That is false, for the simple reason that the ECB purchased the Greek bonds from private banks, and not a single euro returned to the coffers of the Greek State.

In reality, given the use the ECB made of the securities, the Greeks are truly its victims, and that situation will last until at least 2037 since a part of the securities the ECB a purchased will reach maturity between 2018 and 2037 (see the calendar of repayments on the Wall Street Journal Web site: “Greece’s Debt Due: What Greece Owes When,” http://graphics.wsj.com/greece-debt-timeline/)

Source, links, references:

http://www.cadtm.org/The-Troika-s-Policy-in-Greece-Rob-the-Greek-people-and-give-the-money-to

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