The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government is looking at finding an interim agreement that could lead to the funding of a Greek economy, averting a Grexident at least until June. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is directly involved in negotiations, and is resolved at examining all possibilities, even that of a possible clash with the country’s international creditors.
On Sunday, Tsipras reportedly had phone contact with German Chancellor Angela Merkel where both expressed a mutual desire for continued communication so that a beneficial solution could be achieved for all sides. Tsipras also had phone contact with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, requesting a speed-up of the process for an interim agreement for April 30 as foreseen in the February 20 agreement. In this talk, it was agreed that discussions would reopen with the Brussels Group.
The Greek government was particularly troubled by the attack against Greece shown by Eurogroup finance ministers during the meeting at Riga, Latvia, on Friday. The reaction at the meeting was in direct contrast to the positive messages that Tsipras had received in Brussels during the previous day.
A huge question mark looms as to whether an agreement will finally be reached. Athens needs clear progress, if not a decision and the completion of an interim agreement until the start of May, as there are IMF installments worth hundreds of millions of euros coming up. The government is considering the transfer of some “red lines” of secondary importance, but not those on basic issues such as pension reductions.
Deputy Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis said that if Greece’s partners insist on the strangulation of the Greek economy, then the government would need to examine measures that could be taken to avoid this. He said that the country’s basic needs are foremost. “Our basic request is that the current liquidity problem be viewed as one of joint responsibility and be co-handled,” said Dragasakis. “This can be done in many ways. Otherwise, the ordinary handling of the country’s external obligations will increasingly contradict the survival needs and ability for the satisfaction of the Greek nation’s basic requirements.”
Dragasakis said that economic strangulation is being used as a tactic because the results of the Greek elections and choices that the Greek nation made were not to the satisfaction of local and foreign interests.
The agreement reached at the Eurogroup on February 20, despite being celebrated, does not appear to have given Greece the desired leeway for more positive negotiations. On the contrary, there is an escalation in the monetary strangulation of the country should Greece not surrender unconditionally.
The German-led European Union, with the full cooperation of the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, want to lead the Greek nation to economic and social demise.
The weapons in this new form of destruction are threats to cut funding, and memorandum-styled reforms in labor, social security, privatization etc. leading to the liquidation of Greece.
The dilemma is: Full subserviance or economic strangulation? In the face of this extortionist-styled negotiation, the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government needs to prepare workers for a class confrontation with foreign policies and the economic elite.
It is difficult to overcome the fear that has been systematically cultivated for the last five years from the domestic and European establishment and the propaganda that there would be no future for Greece should there be a rupture from the Eurozone and cuts in funding from the EC-ECB-IMF.
The “bogey man” has been used for these institutions to retain their neoliberal sovereignty all at the expense of the ordinary Greek people, particularly the more vulnerable groups. The only solution is either full surrender or radical changes to the character of the eurozone – a development that does not seem feasible.
