Revolting Europe
Greece
Costas Lapavitsas: “Syriza has failed. We must fight the EU and the power of Germany”
For the Greek economist, the single currency has simply allowed Berlin to dominate the European market and to become a global exporter country: “The Euro was a disaster”. And on Greece he adds: “Syriza shows us what we should not do and how we should not organize ourselves. Those who want to change things from … Continue reading
Will Greek pensioners get some Christmas cheer?
It’s Christmas time for Greek pensioners. But what amounts to a rather modest gift from their government seems to have led to a major international rift threatening calamitous consequences for the austerity capital of Europe. In recent days a row has broken out with between PM Alexis Tsipras and the IMF-led coalition of -international lenders … Continue reading
The two scenarios now facing Greece
By Sergio Cesaratto The victory of ‘no’ opens two scenarios. The most likely is the further effort by the Syriza-led government to reach a new agreement with the Troika, but it is not clear why it should be given something that had not been given before. The financial upheaval of recent days may be such as … Continue reading
Greece, Europe and sovereignty
What image will remain in the European Union in the wake of the Greek crisis? Indeed, whatever the outcome of this crisis, whether it results in a Greek default and a possible exit from the euro zone, or a capitulation of the Greek government, the consequences of this crisis on the EU and its image … Continue reading
Has Greece’s outspoken FM Varoufakis been sidelined?
By Dimitri Deliolanes Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras has moved to unblock the negotiations. It may be the last move in the direction of an “honourable compromise”. If the creditors do not seize the opportunity, then Athens will be forced by the facts to carefully consider the possibility of making dramatic choices. A position repeated … Continue reading
The significance of Tsipras’ visit to Moscow
By Jacques Sapir Alexis Tsipras, the new Prime Minister of Greece will be in Moscow April 8. The following day, Greece must make a payment to the International Monetary Fund. The statements by Greece’s Minister of Finance does are unambiguous: Greece will honour its debts. [1] But on April 14, the Greek government must simultaneously … Continue reading
What’s driving Germany’s hardline stance on Greece?
By Juan Torres López* The media and the centres of economic and political power in Europe try to make us believe that the difficulties in reaching agreement with Greece come from the demands and bad practices in this country and that it is the position of the new Greek government which justifies the intransigent treatment … Continue reading
The EU agreement, structural reforms and the Syriza effect abroad: Inside View
Syriza’s Yiannis Bournous* in interview What assessment do you make of Friday’s agreement with the Eurogroup? The document adopted at the Eurogroup gives Greece an extra four months to present a developed plan of structural reforms. The document gives us breathing space, both in terms of time and economic conditions. Even if some of the … Continue reading
Greece: the euro misfit that Germany once embraced with open arms
Greece joined late and never conformed to Germany’s idea of the Euro, but it nonetheless served a very valuable purpose, explains Spanish economist Enrique Viaña Remis, who anticipates Spexit will follow Grexit Today, we talk insistently-indeed, all too insistently of Greece leaving the euro. The debate is raised in Manichean terms (at this time administrators of the … Continue reading
The costs and benefits of Grexit
Emiliano Brancaccio and Gennaro Zezza You cannot say that between 2010 and 2014, Greece has not “done their homework” assigned by the Troika. The tax burden has grown by five percentage points of GDP, public spending has fallen by a quarter and wages have fallen by twenty percentage points. The European Commission has always maintained … Continue reading
The Eurogroup-Greece Agreement
By Jacques Sapir The agreement reached Friday, February 20th between Greece and the Eurogroup has led to conflicting commentary. It is necessary, in order to understand this agreement, and to analyze it, to put it into context, both in the short and in the long term. This agreement was intended to prevent an immediate crisis, … Continue reading
I am ashamed to be European
By Giorgio Cremaschi Double standards have always been a hallmark of the European ruling classes. At least since the governments and liberal revolutions of the late 1700s proclaimed human rights, except for slaves overseas and most of the workers. Europe’s double standards collapsed exactly one hundred years ago with the first world war. After twenty … Continue reading
Consensus grows around Syriza in Greece: Interview with Greek journalist Synghellakis
Theodore Andreadis Synghellakis is a Greek journalist born in Rome in 1973 of parents who fled the fierce military dictatorship of the colonels. Correspondent for over twenty years for Greek TV station Alpha, the press agency Athens and Macedonian News Agency and the newspaper Efimerìda ton Syntaktòn, meaning of Newspaper of Editors, he has also … Continue reading
Spain, 1936; Greece, 2015
With a newly elected government opposing the troika’s brutal austericide policies, Greece finds itself alone – like Spain was in 1936, argues Pedro Luis Angosto* That history does not repeat itself does not prevent it from being cyclical; in other words whenever a period of progress occurs it provokes a reaction that tries to roll … Continue reading
A new ‘fiscal’ currency to tackle the Eurocrisis, from Greece to Italy
Enrico Grazzini To overcome the crisis the new Greece’s Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis is considering a new national ‘fiscal’ currency to that proposed for Italy by myself and my colleagues Luciano Gallino, Biagio Bossone, Marco Cattaneo, Guido Ortona, Stefano Sylos Labini (Helicopter Money per l’Italia: uscire dalla crisi con l’emissione di nuova moneta statale-fiscale complementare … Continue reading
THE EURO
The Dossier
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
ITALY
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
