John Rempel
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The list of Greek proposals is available at:
https://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_24/02/2015_547577A Greek Background
The high stakes imposed on Greece are primarily the result of previous governments borrowing recklessly, knowing full well that their debts would never be paid off but gaining ‘friends’ who supplied them with everything from ‘free’ holidays to luxurious homes.
This goes back to ‘once upon a time’ when Greece was proclaimed by the EU as its poorest country. I had a good friend, a top notch Greek economist who had worked for the OECD and by that time was with the EU. I doubted the ‘poverty’ claim but couldn’t refute it until she said, “You live in Athens and have been to Portugal. Have you seen a single central street in Athens that looks more impoverished than any street in Lisbon?” I hadn’t, but I soon knew why Greece was ‘so poor’.
National wealth is set to the GNP and/or GDP. These are tied to taxable incomes. Greeks have been avoiding taxes since the Romans, through the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire perhaps because the tax collectors represented foreign powers. By the time of independence (1832) Greeks had been under foreign control since at least as far back as 27 BC. Almost 2 millennia of tax evasion is a hard habit to break. The figures the EU accepted blindly were grotesquely fraudulent and the Greek governments that forged them gained free money and loans. The EU attitude at the time was, “Ask and it shall be given.” Tell any child to pick anything they want and then worry about whether it’s good for them and affordable.
Couple this with local government and civil service corruption and here we are today. An example comes from my time teaching EFL in the National School of Public Administration (Εθνικη Σχολη Δημοσιας Διοικησης). The school at that time (1990-96) was in Athens’ centre. A new one was being built in 1996 far from the centre with poor transport. Before it was finished, my director said, it had cost more than the Onassis Hospital. Most of the money came from the EU, I imagine a little of it was free.
The Greek debt is clearly the fault of stupid European bankers with the same attitude to lending as the IMF who encouraged foolish lending in the USA until 2008.
Our current government is trying to stimulate an economy which could become self-sufficient. To discourage intelligent planning in Greece is typical of both the Euro zone and the IMFers.
