Greek Priorities (20/03/15)
How ridiculous is this article from The Times because if the Greek Government want to introduce policies to help the poorest households, they can knock themselves out because it's no one's business but their own.
The only thing is they should clearly do so from their own taxes like other countries instead of borrowing money from the European Union (EU) for such a purpose.
For example, the Syriza-led government has just scrapped a tax on second homes in Greece which most people in Europe would regard as a luxury, yet the Greeks seem reluctant to put their own house in order while blaming the neighbours for their country's misfortunes.
The solution is to raise enough in taxes from Greek citizens to finance the Government's anti-poverty policies and it's hardly the fault of the EU that Syriza seems to have its prorates all wrong.
Greece defies EU with handouts for poor
Alexis Tsipras said that the parliament would vote in the anti-poverty law Marios Lolos/Corbis
By Anthee Carassava and Charles Bremner - The Times
Greece’s radical leader lashed out at exasperated European creditors yesterday, accusing them of trying to “bully Athens into submission” in return for a continued bailout.
Alexis Tsipras delivered his angriest anti-EU tirade so far as his government pushed ahead with a vote on a so-called humanitarian crisis bill which an EU Commission official said threatened further to undermine Greece’s finances.
The European Union’s opposition to the bill, providing food stamps and free electricity to Greece’s poorest households, was “brazen audacity”, Mr Tsipras said. “I don’t think they get it. This piece of legislation comes after five years of savage austerity that wreaked havoc within our society. They want us to freeze this bill so that thousands of more households in Greece will continue to freeze without electricity and food. Is this the Europe they envision?”
Greece will not be “bullied into submission,” he vowed.
Mr Tsipras’s uncompromising words set the stage for tough talks when he meets Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, President Hollande of France and other EU leaders at a summit in Brussels tonight. The Greek prime minister sought a series of one-on-one encounters to put his case for the next ¤7 billion (£5 billion) handout. This has been held up by the failure of Athens to convince EU governments that it will implement reforms and continue to purge the country’s economy.
Renewed tensions between Athens and the rest of the eurozone have revived fears of a default that could push Greece out of the single European currency. Experts from Greece and the international lenders started talks last week on details of reforms, but have made little progress.
“We have the impression, and everyone who is dealing with the question shares the impression, that time is running out for Greece. They obviously have certain problems,” Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said on Tuesday.
While the Germans have been sounding increasingly unconcerned about the prospect of a “Grexit”, or Greek departure from the euro, Paris has been trying to calm the atmosphere in the hope of averting an “accidental” default.
“France will be do everything it can to avoid an accident and I believe that what we will do will avoid it,” Michel Sapin, the finance minister, told parliament yesterday. “No one can be categorical on this and this is why, on both sides, people must control their language.”
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the eurozone’s governing council of ministers, said yesterday that Greece might be forced to resort to Cypriot-style capital controls to prevent depositors taking their money out of the country. Cyprus was forced to impose capital controls in the spring of 2013 to curb a run on its banks as a €10 billion bailout programme was struck with the EU.
Mr Tsipras said that the parliament would vote in the anti-poverty law and that nothing would deflect his government in its intention to fulfil election pledges to end the austerity programme that had been imposed on Greece by its creditors. To those trying to “scare Greece with ultimatums, we will respond by voting for this bill, reclaiming our national sovereignty and dignity”, he said. “We won’t budge from our election promises.”
Greece’s radical leader lashed out at exasperated European creditors yesterday, accusing them of trying to “bully Athens into submission” in return for a continued bailout.
Alexis Tsipras delivered his angriest anti-EU tirade so far as his government pushed ahead with a vote on a so-called humanitarian crisis bill which an EU Commission official said threatened further to undermine Greece’s finances.
The European Union’s opposition to the bill, providing food stamps and free electricity to Greece’s poorest households, was “brazen audacity”, Mr Tsipras said. “I don’t think they get it. This piece of legislation comes after five years of savage austerity that wreaked havoc within our society. They want us to freeze this bill so that thousands of more households in Greece will continue to freeze without electricity and food. Is this the Europe they envision?”
Greece will not be “bullied into submission,” he vowed.
Mr Tsipras’s uncompromising words set the stage for tough talks when he meets Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, President Hollande of France and other EU leaders at a summit in Brussels tonight. The Greek prime minister sought a series of one-on-one encounters to put his case for the next ¤7 billion (£5 billion) handout. This has been held up by the failure of Athens to convince EU governments that it will implement reforms and continue to purge the country’s economy.
Renewed tensions between Athens and the rest of the eurozone have revived fears of a default that could push Greece out of the single European currency. Experts from Greece and the international lenders started talks last week on details of reforms, but have made little progress.
“We have the impression, and everyone who is dealing with the question shares the impression, that time is running out for Greece. They obviously have certain problems,” Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said on Tuesday.
While the Germans have been sounding increasingly unconcerned about the prospect of a “Grexit”, or Greek departure from the euro, Paris has been trying to calm the atmosphere in the hope of averting an “accidental” default.
“France will be do everything it can to avoid an accident and I believe that what we will do will avoid it,” Michel Sapin, the finance minister, told parliament yesterday. “No one can be categorical on this and this is why, on both sides, people must control their language.”
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the eurozone’s governing council of ministers, said yesterday that Greece might be forced to resort to Cypriot-style capital controls to prevent depositors taking their money out of the country. Cyprus was forced to impose capital controls in the spring of 2013 to curb a run on its banks as a €10 billion bailout programme was struck with the EU.
Mr Tsipras said that the parliament would vote in the anti-poverty law and that nothing would deflect his government in its intention to fulfil election pledges to end the austerity programme that had been imposed on Greece by its creditors. To those trying to “scare Greece with ultimatums, we will respond by voting for this bill, reclaiming our national sovereignty and dignity”, he said. “We won’t budge from our election promises.”
