The Greek ‘Rescue’ According To Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis did not leave his position as Greek finance minister silently, as Alexis Tsipras and the Troika would have wanted him to do it. In fact, he has lost no interest in the Greek situation after the agreement with the bankers was signed by the Prime Minister.

In a new post on his personal blog, the former Greek minister details the consequences of the agreement which has now been voted by the Greek Parliament, which most experts agree is the surrender of sovereignty by Greece to the Eurogroup.

Among other things, Varoufakis notes that the Troika’s new austerity measures in Greece are aimed at weakening the Greek people and dismissing the government of Syriza.

The former Greek minister labeled the Troika as an aggressor and the party guilty of the crisis in the Greek economy. This opinion has been shared even by the IMF, which has publicly accepted that austerity has hurt, not helped the Greek recovery.

The Eurogroup wants “to subdue Greece via fiscal waterboarding” wrote Varoufakis referring to package of measures approved by the Greek government as part of the agreement with creditors.

“The troika demands complete control of the way the budget is balanced in Greece, in order to fully control the magnitude of the austerity imposed,” he reiterated economist.

By accepting the agreement, reiterated Varoufakis, Syriza accepted the “humiliation” and the “lies” of the Eurogroup, as the deterioration of the Greek economy is the result of “suffocating tactics from creditors”.

“The troika closed Greek banks to force the government to capitulate,” said Varoufakis. “And now they ask the Greek government to invite them to return to Athens as conquerors”.

Parliament Approves Troika plan. Now what?

After the approval of the agreement signed with the creditors, Alexis Tsipras is now preparing to reshape his government, according to local media.

The vote against the agreement by 32 Syriza MPs, six abstentions and one no show deprives the parliamentary coalition of an absolute majority in the House, which will complicate the drafting of bills arising from the third financial bailout.

“The result of the vote shows a serious split in the unity of Syriza in parliament,” admitted this morning Gavriil Sakelaridis, a government spokesman.

So, what is Tsipras to do now?

1. Government reshuffle

Replacing the rebel ministers who voted against the agreement and some of which have also stated that they have no intention of resigning.

The move to replace former ministers is already ongoing after the number two of Finance, Nadia Valavani and Foreign Nikos Juntís, abandoned their positions in the last few days.
Tsipras could also replace Panayotis Lafazanis, Minister for Reconstruction Productive and Energy and leader of the influential platform from the radical Left wing party as well as the number two in defense, Kostas Ysichos and Deputy Minister of Social Security, Dimitris Stratoulis, who opposed the deal with the Troika.

2. National unity government

It is a hypothesis that has been head a lot because of the unanimous support for Tsipras by the coalition partner from the Greek Independent Party and its 13 deputies who voted for the government and its leader. Panos Kamenos , reiterated yesterday his unconditional support to the prime minister.

In addition, and in constrast to the Independent Party, the main party of the pro-European opposition, the Liberal Potami and its 17 members, excludes the possibility of participating in a coalition government.

3. Call for early elections

Although Tsipras himself has ruled out early elections at least until the third agreement is fully passed within a month, many believe that there will be early elections in the autumn, a challenge for the Prime Minister to go back to the polls against the most radical elements of Syriza.

According to recent surveys, Syriza leads all voting intentions with similar percentages to those obtained in the January elections.

After having arrived to an agreement in extremis we will all discover that the so-called financial rescue was not the solution for Greece.

The threat of a Grexit will come back to the headlines in 2 or 3 years. It is clear that the bailout is not technically well designed. It supposes one more dose of the same medicine that has brought Greece down and deep into the debt hole where it is now.

The conditions imposed by the Troika have also revealed another reality: the beginning of the end of the European project.

After seeing the way in which the Eurogroup treated Greece, a new formidable scar of distrust has been opened across Europe from north to south.

Countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and France are now asking themselves what will happen when they hit the limits of austerity. Will the Eurogroup also punish them in the same way in which the Greeks were?

Luis R. Miranda is an award-winning journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief at The Real Agenda. His career spans over 18 years and almost every form of news media. His articles include subjects such as environmentalism, Agenda 21, climate change, geopolitics, globalisation, health, vaccines, food safety, corporate control of governments, immigration and banking cartels, among others. Luis has worked as a news reporter, on-air personality for Live and Live-to-tape news programs. He has also worked as a script writer, producer and co-producer on broadcast news. Read more about Luis.