newbie
undisambiguated
truesay, but these are people who've recently changed their minds while 2/3 strongly stick to their longtime position. From this distance another round of austerity appears pretty terminal
Greek elections
- Thread starter ska invita
- Start date
ska invita
back on the other side
I don't really know what I'm talking about but if Syriza want to win they should ditch Tsipras and run on a "we really really tried, then tried again - cant say we didn't try - but theres no option now but to leave the Euro and default on debts" ticket.
I wonder what Yanis Varoufakis is saying about all this these days?
I wonder what Yanis Varoufakis is saying about all this these days?
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Maybe terminal for Eurozone status, but almost inevitable irrespective of whether the IMF or Berlin get their way on the depth of austerity demanded.truesay, but these are people who've recently changed their minds while 2/3 strongly stick to their longtime position. From this distance another round of austerity appears pretty terminal
This renewed concern for Greece's debt, of course, speaks more about the forthcoming German elections than anything changed within the Greek economy.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
"Now former Syriza finance minister Mr Varoufakis says the country can use its “parallel payment system" strategy developed in 2014 in a bid to rupture current deals so they can renegotiate."
Although that is from the Express
newbie
undisambiguated
newbie
undisambiguated
I was thinking terminal for the Greek population, particulalry pensions. not literally terminal but ykwim. I can't read German so I really don't know how much Greece influences their domestic politics.
redsquirrel
This Machine Kills Progressives
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
He was on Radio 4 'Today' this pm (at about 8.40) speaking truth to a German economist. As usual, he declined to respond to the in/out Euro question, instead re-iterating the standard Syriza line that the bail-outs have merely transferred debt from European banks to the citizens of Greece.
The positions outlined from both sides were depressingly familiar.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
The FT reckon Greece has 'enough cash' to make it through to July, but the political agenda quickly starts to ramp up with a series of elections; the Dutch going to the polls on the 15th of next month, the French presidential in late April and the Germans in September. Clearly Greece and the Euro in general will figure as a back-drop to all of these campaigns, with Merkel especially constrained from being seen to make any concession to the Greeks.
ska invita
back on the other side
Looks like writing on the wall spells Greece are going out (it was always a question of time surely)...Syriza need to grab the bull by the horns IMO and leave the right parties kowtowing for more "restructuring"
hot air baboon
Well-Known Member
more detail here :
the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens: Varoufakis calls Tsipras to prepare for breaking the deal with Greece's creditors
or here if you speak Greek
Ρήξη με τις ψευδαισθήσεις
The third, arguably most important, part of the question is whether the eurozone-IMF rescue programmes have helped to modernise the Greek state. All the creditors, and many of the country’s politicians, are doubtful. Tax collection rates have actually fallen since 2010, despite efforts to strengthen the tax system. “The state of the [public] administration and of the health, education and justice systems is worse than at any time in the recent past,” says Yannos Papantoniou, a former finance minister.
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hot air baboon
Well-Known Member
...express link but a straight c&p from a pay-walled Times article :
Greek crisis sees bosses ‘march workers to cash machines to GIVE BACK their wages’
It is thought thousands of Greek employees are being forced to hand over part of their pay to employers who were hit hard during the government’s crackdown on tax evasion.
Greece has ordered all salaries to be paid by bank transfer to stamp out tax evasion, which is said to cost the country €16billion a year, and unpaid labour practices. But the country’s largest trade union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), says desperate companies have been clawing back cash from workers after paying their wages each month.
The union said bosses are using “mafia-style tactics” with private security guards escorting workers to cashpoints to withdraw up to a third of their monthly minimum pay of €600.
Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, secretary of the GSEE, told The Times: “It’s part of a dodgy, under-the-table transaction that employees have agreed to for the sake of securing a job.
One worker said: “Around the first pay day, the company told us that we would all go to the bank. A man them emerged to accompany us to the cash dispenser…and once there, he told me in broken Greek to hand over €150 from the €600 of my deposited pay.
“The practice hasn’t stopped. It has been going on for three months now. And every time, I feel like I am being robbed. There must be something that can happen.”
An official investigation is yet to be launched into the allegations with companies reportedly paying employees for overtime in shopping coupons despite Greek law requiring all pay to be made in euros. It is thought telecommunications, security and cleaning companies are embroiled in the scandal.
Pano Tsakloglou, a professor at Athens University in Economics and Business, said: “Such practices help companies to avoid social contributions, but the burden for the economy is huge.”
Greek crisis sees bosses ‘march workers to cash machines to GIVE BACK their wages’
It is thought thousands of Greek employees are being forced to hand over part of their pay to employers who were hit hard during the government’s crackdown on tax evasion.
Greece has ordered all salaries to be paid by bank transfer to stamp out tax evasion, which is said to cost the country €16billion a year, and unpaid labour practices. But the country’s largest trade union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), says desperate companies have been clawing back cash from workers after paying their wages each month.
The union said bosses are using “mafia-style tactics” with private security guards escorting workers to cashpoints to withdraw up to a third of their monthly minimum pay of €600.
Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, secretary of the GSEE, told The Times: “It’s part of a dodgy, under-the-table transaction that employees have agreed to for the sake of securing a job.
One worker said: “Around the first pay day, the company told us that we would all go to the bank. A man them emerged to accompany us to the cash dispenser…and once there, he told me in broken Greek to hand over €150 from the €600 of my deposited pay.
“The practice hasn’t stopped. It has been going on for three months now. And every time, I feel like I am being robbed. There must be something that can happen.”
An official investigation is yet to be launched into the allegations with companies reportedly paying employees for overtime in shopping coupons despite Greek law requiring all pay to be made in euros. It is thought telecommunications, security and cleaning companies are embroiled in the scandal.
Pano Tsakloglou, a professor at Athens University in Economics and Business, said: “Such practices help companies to avoid social contributions, but the burden for the economy is huge.”
Lurdan
old wave
The Greek group TPTG have produced an English version of a longish text 'The Social Crisis in Greece' which is available
as a PDF at this link from their own site,
and has been posted here as a web page by the marxist-humanist site 'With Sober Senses'.
as a PDF at this link from their own site,
and has been posted here as a web page by the marxist-humanist site 'With Sober Senses'.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Latest polls showing a clear win for New Democracy. Syriza doing pretty well to still be on about 30% really. The good new is that the Golden Dawn vote seems top have collapsed into ND (presumably, to get rid of the commies), and that they're polling behind the KKE, Varoufakis' new lot & the rebranded PASOK.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Greek elections: landslide victory for centre-right New Democracy party
A clear win for ND then. Over 30% is still surprisingly good for Syriza. KKE, Ex-Pasok & Varoufakis’ lot look to have got in, touch and go for Golden Dawn.
A clear win for ND then. Over 30% is still surprisingly good for Syriza. KKE, Ex-Pasok & Varoufakis’ lot look to have got in, touch and go for Golden Dawn.
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Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Reporting of the result seems to have largely overlooked the return of the oligarchs to power in Greece. The New Democratic Party leader, Mitsotakis, is a banker and from a family closely associated with the ancien regime that presided over years of corrupt rule. The EU will no doubt welcome the victory of a party expressly committed to allowing foreign capital to flow into Greece whilst expressly implementing the EU austerity programme on ordinary people.
Golden Dawn can safely recede back to the swamp and murdering anti-fascists as the old order becomes reestablished.
Most depressingly, this process was facilitated by the direction of travel adopted by Tsipras and a Syriza party that had long lost is intellectual and political footings preparing the ground for the return of those who created the crisis in the first place.
Golden Dawn can safely recede back to the swamp and murdering anti-fascists as the old order becomes reestablished.
Most depressingly, this process was facilitated by the direction of travel adopted by Tsipras and a Syriza party that had long lost is intellectual and political footings preparing the ground for the return of those who created the crisis in the first place.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Forgot to add a link from Varoufakis posted on his website. Couldn’t agree more with the analysis of Syriza and how it’s surrender to the EU paved the way for the result:
MeRA25 as the only ray of hope on the day the recalcitrant Greek Right returned to office – Election Night message
MeRA25 as the only ray of hope on the day the recalcitrant Greek Right returned to office – Election Night message
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
hmm, it's not exactly a brilliant analysis, everyone on the left says the same, it's that obvious. A bit odd that he doesn't include the failure of GD to win seats (and their vote seems to have gone to the odd right-wing, pro-Russian, party Greek Solution rather than ND). Probably less odd that he doesn't include his own culpability in following his naive belief that simply renegotiating the second Memorandum - which was "the sole reason that the IMF and EU were asphyxiating us" - in order not to admit that their previous memoranda had been in error.
Overall the 'left' seems to have dropped about 2%, it's still actually bigger than the right! Minor mercies....
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
More from Varoufakis on the disastrous role played by Syriza that facilitated the return of the oligarchs:
How Syriza’s capitulations allowed the Greek right to escape the dustbin of history
How Syriza’s capitulations allowed the Greek right to escape the dustbin of history
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Greek voters propel new far-right Spartans group into parliament
Centre-right politician, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, won second term in office but group emerged as the fifth biggest in Athens’ 300-seat house
More fascists. 13% of the vote if you add in the Christian loonies. Syriza 18%, lowest since 2012.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Greece has become the first Orthodox country to legalise gay marriage:
www.aljazeera.com
Greece first Orthodox Christian country to legalise same-sex marriage
Parliament votes 176-76 to pass the bill which also allows same-sex couples to legally adopt children.
