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
18 - Disastrous results of the Fund for recapitalizing Greek banks
(the Hellenic Fund for Financial Stability)
The
Hellenic Fund for Financial Stability is in charge of recapitalizing
banks. It was set up in 2010 to guarantee the stability of the Greek
banking system. Among other missions it is expected to provide credit
institutions with capital, to monitor and supervise the
implementation of restructuring plans proposed by credit institutions
that benefited from the Fund’s resources, as well as to facilitate
the management of non-performing loans.
The
results are disastrous for the Greek people. It has not cleansed the
Greek banking sector. The tens of billions of euros that were
injected onto Greek private banks increased the burden of the Greek
debt and made major private shareholders much richer.
The
Board of the recapitalization fund for Greek banks:
The case
of Anastasia Sakellariou, general director of the HFFS from 2013 to
2015, is quite emblematic. In May 2015, Sakellariou was told by the
Greek government to quit her position since she was charged with
fraud and money laundering, along with 25 other former executives of
the Hellenic Post Bank. Charges against Anastasia Sakellariou are
related to the approval, in 2012, of a loan that made it possible to
extend two of the bank’s credit lines to a famous local tycoon. Yet
instead of demanding her dismissal until the end of the enquiry, the
director of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, and the board of
the HFFS supported Sakellariou.
Among
the members of the General Council of the Financial Stability Fund as
set up by the Troika in 2010, we can find, as late as April 2016,
(http://www.hfsf.gr/files/announcement_20160418_en.pdf)
Pierre Mariani, who shares responsibility for the failure of the bank
Dexia and the resulting financial disaster. This
Belgian-French-Luxembourg bank has had to be bailed out on three
separate occasions by the Belgian, French and Luxembourg authorities.
The heavy losses posted by Dexia between 2008 and 2012 did not
prevent Mr. Mariani from ensuring he was granted substantial
increases in his emoluments. Even so the ECB saw no problem with
appointing him to be one of the directors of the Financial Stability
Fund in charge of recapitalizing the Greek banks.
It is
downright outrageous that someone who is largely responsible for the
disaster of a major bank like Dexia be appointed to head the entity
in charge of managing the recapitalization of the Greek banks.
Dexia
sold billions of euros’ worth of toxic loans to French public
bodies and its failure had a highly damaging impact on public
finances in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Is it prudent to continue
to trust Pierre Mariani? When Dexia was bailed out by the Belgian
government, Pierre Mariani was forced to leave on account of his
catastrophic management; and yet he walked away with a million-euro
“golden parachute.” For the year 2012, Dexia paid him €1.7
million. Now he shows his nose in Greece to participate in cleaning
up the Greek banks.
Among
the other members of the Fund’s General Council is Wouter
Devriendt. This adviser to Belgium in banking matters has held
important posts at two banks which had to be bailed out in 2008:
Fortis, rescued by the Belgian government and re-sold to BNP Paribas,
and ABN-Amro, nationalized by the Dutch government. Like Pierre
Mariani, Wouter Devriendt is one of the people who are responsible
for the banking crisis in Europe.
It would
be a shame to conclude this assessment of the membership of the
General Council of the HFSF without mentioning Steven Franck, who
held high positions at the North American bank Morgan Stanley, then
at BNP Paribas between 2006 and 2009 – during the period when that
bank was actively contributing to the creation of a private-credit
speculative bubble in Greece and becoming entangled in the subprime
and structured-products market in the US. Note also that Steven
Franck has also worked for the US President at the White House and
served in US naval aviation.
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