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Greece v IMF. Same tactic criminal elite used 2 steal Africa: Structural Adjustment Economic Warfare

1,610 views · Published 23 June 2015 · 5:29 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Public Enquiry · 2015 · News & Politics

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The facts about Greece's debt
Tony Gosling Press TV
January 19, 2015
http://socialistworker.org/2015/01/19/the-facts-about-greeces-debt
The rulers of Greece and Europe are pulling out all the stops--including exploiting the anti-Islam and anti-immigrant hysteria following the Charlie Hebdo murders in France--to try to prevent a victory for the radical left party SYRIZA in national elections planned set for next weekend. But opinion polls still show SYRIZA with a lead over the current ruling party, the center-right New Democracy.

Millions of Greeks are putting their hopes in SYRIZA to form a left-wing government that will reject the Memorandums--austerity measures demanded by the Troika of the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), in return for a "rescue" of the Greek financial system. The Memorandums are reminiscent of the strict "structural adjustment programs"--filled with spending cuts, elimination of subsidies for the poor, privitization of state-run enterprises and regressive taxes on workers and the poor--imposed by the IMF on less developed countries drowning in foreign debt.

What if a new government took the EU at its word and audited Greece's debt to determine why it had increased by more than half since the Troika's "rescue." Left-wing economist Eric Toussaint, the spokesperson for the Committee to Abolish Third World Debt, explains what the auditors would uncover, in an article published at the CADTM website.

Alexis Tsipras speaks at a SYRIZA conference
Alexis Tsipras speaks at a SYRIZA conference
SINCE THE announcement that elections will be held in Greece on January 25, 2015, the prospect that they will be won by SYRIZA has been presented to international public opinion as a menace and, in particular, as a threat to the Eurozone. Yet those who are sounding the alarm are fully aware that SYRIZA has announced that it has no intention of unilaterally suspending debt repayments once elected, and wishes to remain in the Eurozone. On the other hand, SYRIZA is committed to putting an end to the unjust and antisocial measures implemented by previous governments and the troika.

This campaign against the supposed dangers of SYRIZA is aimed at intimidating Greek voters into renouncing their right to change. It is also intended, in the event of a SYRIZA victory, to cause part of European public opinion to reject the Greek Coalition of the Radical Left in order to avoid Podemos winning the autumn 2015 Spanish elections in its wake. Other surprises could be in store from countries such as Cyprus, Portugal and Slovenia if their citizens considered that it would be worth trying to replace disastrous ultraconservative policies by left-wing measures. European leaders and the large private corporations that support them are aware that the majority of the Eurozone population has a negative opinion of the policies that have been implemented in recent years, and would be ready to vote for change. A SYRIZA victory would represent a major threat to the mainstream parties, whether conservative or "socialist," fearing that the contamination could spread to Spain.

The debt that Greece is expected to pay is equivalent to 175 percent of all economic output (as measured by gross domestic product, or GDP) for an entire year. It is an intolerable burden for the Greek people.

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WHAT WOULD happen if a SYRIZA government decided to apply, to the letter, Article 7 of a regulation adopted by the European Union in May 2013 "on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States in the euro area experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability"--concerning countries subject to a structural adjustment plan, including, in particular, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus.

Paragraph 9 of Article 7 maintains that States subject to structural adjustment should carry out a complete audit of public debt in order to explain why indebtedness increased so sharply and to identify any irregularities. Here is the text in full: "A Member State subject to a macroeconomic adjustment program shall carry out a comprehensive audit of its public finances in order, inter alia, to assess the reasons that led to the building up of excessive levels of debt as well as to track any possible irregularity."

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