Developments, most negative, continued over the weekend on the so-called “Greek issue”, both domestically and overseas, with German FinMin Wolfgang Schauble downplaying the possibility of a deal with Athens to unblock bailout funds at next week’s closely watched Eurogroup meeting in Riga.
“It doesn’t look like there will be a solution in Riga. It’s clear, of course, that things have gotten worse and it’s difficult for Greece,” the powerful German minister said, as the radical leftist government in Athens continued to scramble to find cash for this month’s pensions and wages in tandem with security money for pending IMF pay backs.
“The debate isn’t getting better by repetition. The time lag means Greece cannot access outstanding fund,” Schauble said from the sidelines of the IMF’s annual spring meeting in Washington D.C.
A day earlier on Friday, a senior IMF official said talks to extend the bailout financing deal for Athens could take weeks.
Back in Greece, the SYRIZA government came under renewed and vicious criticism by the opposition, whereas one high-profile SYRIZA cadre, Parliament vice-president Alexis Mitropoulos even leaving open the possibility of a referendum. He even delineated the “question” to be asked.
“The question will be on the points and contents of the agreement that the Leftist government will conclude with creditors. It will not be a question on fiscal (points). Of course, (the question) cannot be on exit from the euro, because the (foreign) debt must be solved immediately, therefor, the particular points of the agreement for which the (government’s) economic team is fiercely giving battle.”
On the other side of Parliament’s aisle, opposition socialist PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos called the current coalition government a “monstrosity”, born of cooperation between radical leftist SYRIZA and the small rightist, anti-austerity Independent Greeks’ (AN.EL) party.
“It (government) is lying to the Greek people; does respect mean lying to the people and continuously creating an image which embarrasses the country (internationally),” he asked, rhetorically in a television interview on Sunday.
“The issue isn’t the misstep of (PM Alexis) Tsipras, but of the of the entire nation,” the former top minister in various previous governments said.
Finally, another former top PASOK minister, Andreas Loverdos, zeroed in on Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis, charging that the latter has generated huge publicity for himself at the expense of his country.
“He’s a clown who’s playing the role of finance minister. This guy is saying one thing one moment and another the next moment.”
He also said he doesn’t foresee any referendum but snap elections instead.
New election?
Loverdos’ forecast came after a couple of same-day newspaper interviews by high-ranking government ministers were published.
Influential government vice-president Yannis Dragassakis, considered top “pragmatist” in the current government, was quoted by the “Vima” weekly as saying that the prospect of a referendum or snap election is open!
Nevertheless, he reiterated that his government wants a “viable solution within the Eurozone” and SYRIZA’s negotiating framework.
“But we will not withdraw from our red lines; the ones set out last week by the prime minister in his interview with Reuters”
On the other side of SYRIZA’s political spectrum, minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, charged that creditors want “Greece’s subjugation”, while repeating a position mostly advanced by SYRIZA’s virulently anti-capitalist “Left Platform” grouping and “internal opposition”:
“There can be no deal with neoliberal and neo-colonial centres that dominate the EU and IMF if Greece cannot … truly and deeply … threaten the most vital and fundamental economic, political and geo-strategic interests,” was the audacious statement by Lafazanis in the Athens newspaper “Agora”.
