A new
government charged with taking Greece out of its worst crisis in modern times
assumed office on Wednesday, three days after the leftwing Syriza party
returned to power.
“Our goal is recovery and reconstruction,”
said Yannis Dragasakis, the deputy premier, following the ceremony. In the
spirit of rebuilding Greece’s shattered economy, Tsipras retained the economics
team that had negotiated Athens’s latest European Union bailout during his
first term in office.The Oxford-educated economist Euclid Tsakalotos, who lead
the talks that finally sealed the €86 bn rescue, returned to the post of
finance minister. Giorgos Stathakis resumed duties as head of the national
economy ministry - renamed the ministry of growth and development - while
Dragasakis, a former communist MP, remained in the position of deputy prime
minister overseeing the far-reaching fiscal consolidation programme Athens now
has to enforce.
Giorgos Houliarakis, the British-trained
academic who acted as interim finance minister after Tsipras called the snap
election following an internal revolt by hardliners outraged by his U-turn over
austerity and loss of parliamentary majority, assumed the role of junior
finance minister.
With the recession-plagued economy badly hit
by this summer’s closure of banks and imposition of capital controls, the
government says it will prioritise improving the business environment for small
and medium sized enterprises, the lifeblood of the Greek economy.
Close to 40,000 are expected to declare
bankruptcy by the end of the year, a path more than 150,000 companies have
taken since the crisis erupted in late 2009. “Our priority will be
kick-starting the economy, the real economy,” the minister of state Alekos
Flambouraris told reporters.
Recovery is likely to rest on the rapid
implementation of reforms. “The new government has no time to waste on trials
and experiments. The third memorandum [bailout accord] leaves no space,” warned
the leftwing daily Efimerida Twn Syntaktwn.
“Within three months, 56.4% of the measures,
or 127 actions, have to be taken of which 15 have to be enforced in October.”
In the coming weeks the hugely sensitive issues of pensions cuts, tax increases
on farmers, recapitalization of banks, privatization of state assets and liberalization
of closed markets must all be tackled. The measures, expected to spell further
hardship for the long-suffering middle class, have to be enacted before
international inspectors conduct a review of the economy - key not only to
€3bnin badly needed aid but addressing the crucial issue of debt relief.
At 180% of national output, and growing by
the day, Greek debt is by far the highest in the EU and the biggest drain on
the country’s finances. “There has to be a fourth bailout in the shape of a
restructuring of Greece’s debt,” the economist Vicky Pryce told the Guardian.
“The current third bailout is a bit of a
‘fake’ bailout as a lot of it is a sort of recycling of what should have been
paid to Greece under the second bailout,” she said. “Still, far from solving
all problems, it is a framework on which to work and will encourage a more
lenient approach to Greece on the investment front and in eventual QE entry.”
Europe has warned openly that there can be
no second chance for Athens - the nation’s exit from the eurozone will beckon
if commitments are not respected. But as ministers assumed their portfolios,
political commentators voiced fears over the new government’s ability to deal
with the challenges ahead. Many questioned its durability following Tsipras’s
refusal to form a grand coalition with the main opposition New Democracy party,
and other centre left pro-European bailout forces.
The stridently anti-austerity rightwing
Independent Greeks party (Anel) - Tsipras’s’ coalition partner of choice for a
second time - is like many in Syriza lukewarm about imposing policies both
remain ideologically opposed to. “It is impossible that a government like this
will be able to apply the necessary reforms,” said Fotini Pipili, a former
conservative MP. “I don’t see it lasting long.”
Within hours of being sworn in, the
appointment of the Anel MP Dimitris Kammenos as deputy minister of
infrastructure and transport was causing waves in and outside Greece. The
lawmaker, who is better known for his antisemitic views was recently forced to
apologise for posting a picture on his Facebook page doctoring the words above
the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp to “we’re staying in Europe”.
Pipili described the appointment as a national disgrace at a time when Athens
should be getting down to the business of ending its worst economic crisis in
decades in its quest to remain at Europe’s core.
Πηγή: theguardian.com
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