Monday, February 2, 2015

After the elections in Greece: Tsipras haunting Europe cozying – Neue Zürcher Zeitung

After the elections in Greece: Tsipras haunting Europe cozying – Neue Zürcher Zeitung

After a week of polemical statements, on Friday reached its peak in the row with the head of the Euro Group, the new government in Athens dropped down a gear. A statement by Prime Minister Tsipras to the news agency Bloomberg should calm things down abroad. His campaign promises to end the austerity and to promote growth, no way implies that Greece’s debt to the EU and the IMF not blot out. Already on weekends insured Tsipras ECB President Mario Draghi phone to seek a mutually agreed solution with the partners.

According to the latest opinion polls favor 70% of the Greek population the aggressive style of the new government. Thus, the first round was won and the goal of Tsipras to convince his voters that it respected his campaign promises, for the time being achieved. But as a proportion of the population with the creditors considered the confrontation with care and precaution lifts his bank deposits, also the home front had to be reassured. On Sunday evening, therefore, Jannis Dragassakis, the new vice president and superintendent of the economics department appeared on television and played the confrontation mood of the previous days down significantly. He indicated that the government is close to an agreement with creditors to cover the Greek financing needs for the coming months. He did not rule an extension of the ongoing consolidation of the program.

It happened while good, that same evening, US President Barack Obama had shown understanding of the deviation of the new Greek government by the strict austerity measures. This was interpreted in all Greek media as a signal of support for the new government, even for exploiting these statements to show the people that they will not stand in the forthcoming negotiations without alliances.

the Greeks, but also to show creditors that he finds hearing for his ideas to Tsipras went on Monday on a promotional tour abroad. First stop was – as is the tradition of a Greek Prime Minister requested – Cyprus. It was mainly about the Cyprus issue and relations with Turkey. When economic policy was agreement with the conservative President of the island, Nikos Anastassiadis. He was on the same line with Tsipras what concerns the need for a growth policy, he said.

The key stages of this cuddly tour but are Rome, Brussels and Paris, where Tsipras is received by the French President Hollande. At the same time also the Greek finance minister to travel made; on Sunday he visited his French counterpart Michel Sapin, and on Monday he was in London as a guest. On Tuesday we go to Rome to prepare together with his Italian counterpart, the meeting of Tsipras with Matteo Renzi.

The destinations are well chosen. Tsipras and his finance minister can count on friendly terms. The tenor in all these visits will be the same: Greece will ask for more time, without wishing to make an application for extension of the current program. What Athens wants to achieve this, is a political agreement, theoretically allowing the ECB to provide more than a few months, the Greek banks on the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) with liquidity. As is evident from the statements of Varoufakis, Greece will be financed so that on the issue of T-bonds, which are taken from the Greek banks. During these months, Athens wants to submit a new custom program to consolidate public finances and boost the economy and so agree with creditors. The new government aims thus at two policy objectives. First, the current program as promised voters to abolish and consequently having to apply for any extension. For this, the government is willing to give up the scheduled tranche of € 7.5 billion. The second goal is to never have received the inspectors of the Troika back in Athens.

After the shock and the slump in the first week of the left-wing government found the stock prices on Monday on the Athens stock exchange something ground. At the end of the general trade index closed 4.64% higher, the bank index rebounded as much as 14% of its losses.

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