“Dear Germany, you could sell your islands”: the provocative response of the former Greek minister in the face of the German budget crisis
Karma is a very bad thing, and sometimes it hits you right. In a Bild article, Greek correspondent Liana Spyropoulou interviewed Greek politicians about the current German budget crisis to hear their suggestions. We remember that the Constitutional Court, by canceling 60 billion of "Fori budget" funds intended for the energy transition and the help of companies, has put the possibility of writing a budget in Germany in crisis, given that the possibility of taking on debt is limited by the so-called “Debt ceiling”.
When the Greeks went bankrupt in 2010, there was no shortage of good advice from us: “ Sell the islands, bankrupt Greeks ,” was the BILD headline at the time, and we meant it. Moreover, the Germans plundered Greek companies and infrastructures and sold them at cost.
At this point Panagiotis Lafazanis, former Minister of Energy and Environment in the government of far-left Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, gave the most appropriate response to the German newspaper, recommending the same medicine that was imposed on Greece: “The government should impose emergency taxes on both citizens and companies to solve the problem. This will cause a crisis in Germany, but the money cannot be raised otherwise." Exactly the solution that Greece had to apply and which led to the most terrible part of the crisis.
And then, the Greeks explode with the hammer of austerity: "Another solution would be to sell public assets such as islands, to quickly raise large sums of money." The same medicine that Bild recommended to the Greeks.
Will bankrupt Germany have to sell its islands, Heligoland, Ruegen or Wangeroogem or sunny Sylt?
Furthermore, the state should also sell the companies, says the Greek left. But who would take the Deutsche Bummelbahn?
But it's not over: former minister Lafazanis told BILD: “ If the Germans cannot bring the situation under control on their own, then they must be placed under the supervision of the Troika. Then they will be forced to obey .”
His comment on the German situation was: “ Life is vindictive. Germany must experience what it imposed on Greece. Germany threatens to lead Europe into a long-term crisis .”
Strange that the Greek politician forgot to ask for the intervention of the ESM, the European Stability Instrument, the private fund that has governed Greek finances with an iron fist. Maybe he forgot because the ESM risks actually intervening to save the banking system.
In reality, the solution would be around the corner: stop being a teacher and cover investments with debt, as everyone does to implement anti-cyclical policies. But they are Germans, and they won't do it.
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The article “Dear Germany, you could sell your islands”: the provocative response of the former Greek minister to the German budget crisis comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/cara-germania-potresti-vendere-le-tue-isole-la-provocatoria-risposta-dellex-ministro-greco-di-fronte-alla-crisi-di-bilancio-tedesco/ on Wed, 29 Nov 2023 09:00:03 +0000.