ATHENS. – On his own initiative, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, ahead of this Saturday his visit to Paris, where he will meet on Sunday afternoon with his counterpart, Michel Sapin. Varoufakis and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, seek allies in France and Italy, two more receptive to their arguments countries. Will Try to make friends and intransigence against Germany and after announcing on Friday that his government wants to break with the ‘troika’ of creditors and their austerity policies.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that “a new removed from the Greek debt” does not arise and recalled that in 2012 private creditors forgave Athens half sovereign debt they had, ie a US $ 120 billion.
According to a survey for the German public broadcaster ZDF, made just after the coming to power of SYRIZA, 76% of Germans are against an acquittal Greek debt.
In line with the Chancellor, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, spoke in the daily Die Welt against that option, saying that “when one knows the debt financing Greek, knows that until 2020 no problem “.
In a very pessimistic note, analysts at German bank Berenberg said that after the return to growth in 2014 (the official forecast is 0.6%), “SYRIZA’s arrival to power seems to push the Greek economy to the brink of a new recession.”
Despite five years of adjustment, the Greek public debt remains astronomical levels (175% of GDP) and the government of the radical left Syriza requires a haircut of 50% to fully revitalize the economy.
The Greek government announced on Friday not to receive the last installment pending help, about 7,000 million euros. And he also said he did not want to prolong the rescue, which expires on February 28.
During the week, the Executive also announced a flurry of measures to end austerity policies and privatization applied from 2010 return for two bailouts totaling US $ 271 billion.
The first movements Syriza government are being followed closely in Spain, where his ally can organized . on Saturday a large demonstration in Madrid against the “caste” leader, attended by tens of thousands of people
– Tsipras wants to fulfill promises –
In a meeting with his cabinet on Friday night, Tsipras said he will keep his campaign promises, according to local media, citing government sources.
“My predecessors chose to say one thing during the campaign and do something after the election. They had the support of the people, and lost. I want to be original and be true to my promise, “Tsipras, Syriza leader told his deputy, Yanis Dragasakis, and his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. Speaking to the BBC , Varoufakis stated that “Greece has not been doing reforms in the past five years, it has been deformed.” “The privatization in recent years have been kind of settlement [...] assets that were potentially very valuable were sold in full deflationary crisis very little money, and even that little money has fallen into a hole of unsustainable debt, “he added.
The finance minister and prime minister made the remarks after the visits on Thursday and Friday Athens of the early leaders of the EU, President of the Parliament, Martin Schulz, and the head of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem. The latter was tense at his press conference with Varoufakis and motioned to Athens “ignore agreements previous is not the way forward “.
After passing through Cyprus, must for a Greek prime minister recently taken office, Tsipras will meet Tuesday in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Matteo Renzi. On Wednesday speak in Paris with French President Francois Hollande.
BY AFP / Greece
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