Galery

1

• The agreement with the Euro group averted the breakup in the 11th hour, even though it left a great deal to be resolved during the next few months.
• What was granted was a four-month extension. And what was ‘extended’ is the current programme, i.e. the memorandum, now reinventing itself as … an arrangement!
• Contrary to the initial request of the Greek finance minister for a bridging programme designed so that Greece got cash without any commitments, what was achieved at the end of the day was a prolongation of the current programme, i.e. the memorandum, without any cash at all before progress is evaluated.
• The government went along with the current target for the primary budget surplus, accompanied with a promise that in 2015, in particular, "the economic conditions will be taken into account."
• The budget surplus target is being sold as the top achievement, but the Eurogroup statement said it was going to be 3%. The Greek finance minister talked about creative ambiguity, but unfortunately ambiguities typically are the weapon of the stronger side in negotiations.
• No mechanism has been envisaged for assistance from the ECB and ELA to fill current cash gaps for the government, which will open wider as early as March. The government also vowed to stick to previous commitments to creditors. I.e. the nominal ‘debt cutting’ is ultimately buried!
• The €11 billion remainder in the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund can only be used for bank recapitalisation rather than for footing additional budget bills.
• All representatives of SYRIZA, including Tsipras, had promised they would use these 11 billion to alleviate the situation of society rather than that of bankers. This promise was obliterated with their signatures under the agreement. Most importantly, instead of using the € 11 billion to cushion the safety credit line, which we had planned to snatch the country entirely out of the memoranda, the sum was taken out of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund’s control to be used at the discretion of the European Financial Stability Facility – only if the Greek banks need more cash over again.
• This solution opens the road towards a new loan, i.e. a new memorandum (arrangement), which will entail strict oversight by what was previously known as the troika, now to be called ‘the three institutions’!
• The government practically remains in the same corner as the previous government. With two important additional drags. Firstly, this government is headed towards a new memorandum while previous one was headed out of the current memorandum. Secondly, this government's lack of resolution slowed down the country's economic development, substantially upset bank deposits and undercut the rating of the Greek credit worthiness.
• It is worth pointing out that €25 billion have already been withdrawn from the banks. ELA’s price tag is already 30 times higher (1.5% instead of 0.05%). Unemployment is again on its way up.
• If you dub this ‘negotiation’, how do you name the fiasco?

For their part, SYRIZA’s leaders claim that Greece has turned the page through difficult, and, perhaps for the first time, genuine negotiations. According to them, Samaras is to blame for the crash of the memorandum and the attempts to trap the new government. "The negotiations are not finished, they will continue with greater determination, while society stands behind us," said SYRIZA.