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> Greece

It’s been four years since the “Kastelorizo crime​​”

On April 22, 2010 George Papandreou announced with criminal carelessness that the country will enter the so-called bailout mechanism whereas the IMF will participate and monitor the process

Newsroom April 22 09:38

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It took four years to start hoping for exiting from the bailout mechanism. The policy of troika was so catastrophic that the first goal of the government formed in 2012 was to exit this situation, a goal that begins to be realized with the recent return of Greece to the bond markets and possibly with the new agreement on Greek debt. However, the opposition question this possibility.
And while we all banish the memorandum and the troika, the only one who still insists that entering the bailout mechanism was the right choice is Giorgos Papandreou, even though Greek economy remains in recession.

While unemployment reached 28 % and the income of Greek people decreased about 30% and even though our European partners and IMF officials admit that the policies applied in our country were the wrong ones, Mr. Papandreou is the only one who insists on talking about the right choice.

Even today no one can interpret with clarity and certainty which were Mr. Papandreou’s thoughts and intentions. There is no doubt that he had to govern a bankrupt country. But, his own choices and policies from October 2009 to April 2010 proved devastating and they even made the situation worse.

Nobody can understand what he meant with his full of ambiguities proclamation announced on April, 22 from Kastelorizo.

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Mr. Papandreou said that it was “national necessity and imperative to formally ask our partners to activate the mechanism of support, which we have all together created in the EU”.

He accused the past governments, saying: ” The details for the actual deficit of 2009 are announced. These reminded us all the incomprehensible errors, omissions, criminal choices and the problems that the previous government passed to us. All of us have inherited – the current government and the Greek people – a boat ready to sink”.

Trying, though, to give some hope at the end he said: “We have new allies now. We have managed to receive the support of EU with a new mechanism which was never applied before. And we and our partners in the EU hoped that this decision would be enough to calm the markets so that we can continue to fund our country with lower interest rates. But, the markets did not respond. Either because they did not believe in the support of the EU or because some of them decided to continue the speculation”.

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