ALLIANCE FO§ DEMOCRACY

Hellas

For Easter, the Greek Parliament has given itself a committee of inquiry to determine which government administration was responsible for the country’s debt crisis. The German Press Agency (DPA) reports that the panel will include international experts, but does not name them. Inquiries will be made into the administration of Giorgos Papandreou (2009 tos 2011), the independent transitional government of Lucas Papademos (2011 to 2012) and the Conservative and Socialist coalition government under Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (June 2012 to January 2015).
Apparently, the country where democracy was born is ready to undergo the reforms that Europe is unwilling to. The Greeks are cleaning house. They are demanding overdue funds from Germany, loans from World War II that were never paid back, an issue that has strained relations between the two countries for years.
They are no longer negotiating as a dependent of the Eurogroup, they are making demands because the Eurozone has reached its end. Greece, which must pay off a loan of €450 million to the IMF, and intends to do it. Also falling due are the salaries of public employees and pension payments. The Greek government claims that it can afford to make these payments – the question is where it will get the money. At least this will keep the Eurogroup’s finance ministers busy. They are scheduled to meet on 8 and 9 April, and may be more inclined to favour a departure from the debt union.
The Greeks are right. The debt union is still unable to function. It must attempt reforms and establish the necessary committees to push for innovations. This is long overdue. Attacking the Greek government as the German press does, or not say anything at all as Chancellor Merkel does, or threatening it as EU Parliament President Martin Schulz (SPD) did prior to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s trip to Moscow, saying that an alliance with Russia will not be tolerated under any circumstances, helps no one. But it shows how terrified the Eurogroup is of the idea of a common currency, which was conceived by the European-minded, is now collapsing, because politicians acting on behalf of high finance, broke the rules to preserve the currency; a currency that should never have been introduced, because Europe thrived on the different payment transfers. Only in this way could each European country negotiate its special merchandize for the good of the country. The enforced conformity of Europe placed a burden on Europeans. Greece wants to find the guilty governments and do away with the idea that politicians do not make mistakes. This is their special contribution to the European Community. Whatever mistakes they have made so far, the Greeks are now showing the rest of the Euro countries the right way. Before, they were afraid to admit their mistakes, but now reforms are finally possible.