IMF Wants Greece to Privatize State Assets by Selling Them to Foreign Interests
Having lived through the experience of Ireland, where the government didn’t even bother to ask the people, they just said “Yes”, I can tell you that a “yes” vote is absolutely no guarantee for “a better future”, on the contrary. It is a guarantee for ever escalating debt, for a society without a future of its own, for young people without a chance of a future, a society where social justice is non-existent and written out of society by law. A “yes” vote guarantees one thing, and one thing only, permanent serfdom to the elite. Despite Ireland being portrayed as the poster boy of austerity, reality on the ground is one of increasing poverty, increasing division between “have’s” and “have nots”, legally facilitated corruption and tax evasion, and a government being “managed” by the powers that be. Greeks would do well to look at that reality and draw the only conclusion possible. Greeks would also do well to realise that modern fascism doesn’t wear a military uniform any longer, it has an anonymous face and wears a 3 piece suit, it symbol is €,$ or anything else representing finance and it is far more dangerous than anything we ever experienced before. [Source]
In the video above, on the island of Lesvos, refugees tried to raid a food truck. The incident took place when nearly 2,500 migrants hosted in the camp of Lesvos (Mytilene) municipality in Kara Tepe saw the catering truck approaching. They started to run for a plate with food. The reason for the panic is they feared they would go hungry without food since a rumor claiming that catering service for refugees had stopped on the island of Samos due to debts. Hundreds of refugees and undocumented migrants arrive daily to Greece from Turkey and the situation has gotten out of control. [Source]
Risk of Greece 'chaos' if no deal soon: French central bank head
July 8, 2015AFP - Greece could descend into "chaos" unless a deal is found soon, the head of the French central bank, Christian Noyer, said on Wednesday.
"The Greek economy is on the edge of catastrophe. A deal absolutely must be found on Sunday because it will be too late after that and the consequences will be serious," he told French radio, adding that "there could be riots... and chaos in the country".
The EU's Economic
Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said an agreement with Greece was
possible but it was up to its government to make credible proposals to
its fellow eurozone members.
"I think a solution must be found by Sunday and I believe it can be," he told France 2 TV, adding: "The ball is clearly in the Greek authorities' court."
European leaders have
given Greece until Thursday to submit detailed reform plans and set a
deadline of Sunday to reach a new bailout deal.
European leaders gave debt-stricken Athens a final deadline of Sunday to reach a new bailout deal and avoid crashing out of the euro, after Greek voters rejected international creditors' plans in a weekend referendum.
Greek leaders must submit detailed reform plans by Thursday to win the fresh bailout funds the country needs to stop its banking system from collapsing, EU President Donald Tusk said after an emergency summit of Greek and eurozone leaders.
All 28 European Union leaders will examine the plans on Sunday in a make-or-break summit that will either save Greece's moribund economy, or leave it to crash out of the single currency -- a so-called "Grexit".
"Tonight I have to say loud and clear -- the final deadline ends this week," Tusk told a news conference."Inability to find an agreement may lead to bankruptcy of Greece and insolvency of its banking system," he added.
The
eurozone had expected Athens to submit fresh reform plans on Tuesday
after Greeks voted by 61 percent to reject creditor demands for more
austerity in return fresh EU-IMF bailout funds in an unprecedented
referendum.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned "we have a 'Grexit' scenario prepared in detail" if no deal was reached, although he insisted he wanted Athens to stay in the single currency.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, warned Greece would need a debt programme lasting "several years" to revive its moribund economy and insisted writing off any of its 320-billion-euro ($350-billion) debt mountain was out of the question.
The final crescendo of Greece's long-running debt crisis forced the country's banks to close last week and prompted worried shoppers to clean out supermarket shelves due to fears of food shortages.
Speaking after Tuesday's emergency summit, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the government "continues its efforts with the people's mandate as a weapon, and its desire for a viable agreement that brings an end to this story and guarantees an exit from the crisis".
- Greece to make 'efforts' -
Tuesday's summit was the first time Tsipras and his new Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos have met with leaders in Brussels to discuss the fall-out from the dramatic referendum.
The result was a victory for radical leader Tsipras, who came to power in January on the back of vows to end five years of bailout-imposed austerity blamed for crashing the Greek economy, which has shrunk by a quarter since the crisis started.
But it has infuriated other EU leaders, roiled world financial markets and dealt a traumatic blow to the post-war vision of European integration, already reeling from years of economic crisis.
In Athens, the Greek government said it had committed to seeking its third bailout since 2010, with a revised request "taking into account" the concerns of creditors who have demanded more cuts to pensions and bigger taxes.
And in Brussels, Tsakalotos -- who replaced outspoken motorbike-riding predecessor Yanis Varoufakis after he resigned on Monday in a bid to ease the rift with Athens's creditors -- told reporters there had been "progress" at the talks.
But their words did little to dispel the fear gripping world financial markets, with Asian shares plunging on Wednesday morning and the euro hitting a five-week low of $1.0916 in New York trading on Tuesday.
- Grim in Greece -
Fears that a "Grexit" could upend the global financial system have sparked worldwide concern, prompting US President Barack Obama to call Merkel and Tsipras before the summit.
Renowned economists including Thomas Piketty and Jeffrey Sachs also published an open letter to Merkel urging the leader of Europe's biggest economy to cut Greece's debt to "avoid further disaster".
The mood was also grim on the streets of Greece, where liquidity starved banks are expected to keep their doors closed until Thursday at the earliest and fears are rising that ATMs could soon run empty.
Greece's banks have been shut since its most recent international bailout programme expired last Tuesday while capital controls have been imposed, limiting withdrawals to 60 euros a day.
The ECB, which has been keeping Greek lenders afloat, said Monday it had decided to maintain emergency funding to the country's banks -- so-called Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) -- at its current level of 89 billion euros.
But it said Greece had to provide more collateral, a move that will make it more difficult to access the vital funds in the future.
Greece on June 30 became the first advanced economy to default on an International Monetary Fund loan, on the same day its EU-IMF bailout expired. On July 20 it faces a huge payment of more than three billion euros to the ECB.
Related:
Greece: Microcosm of What's Coming to America?
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