Greece's Slippery Slope - 10th August 2015

Greece’s slippery slope a reminder to stay sober

·       THEO THEOPHANOUS

·       HERALD SUN

·       AUGUST 10, 2015 12:00Am

The Speaker of the Greek parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.

I AM in the main square of Athens, outside the Greek parliament. I look at the people demonstrating. As an Australian of Greek background, I feel sad when I see in their faces the devastation left by five years of austerity.

Successive Greek governments accrued massive debts which were largely hidden from ordinary Greeks. But to insist on greater austerity with little or no attention to investment, jobs and growth strategies is wrong. Greece cannot pay its debts and it has no control over the money supply to stimulate its economy because of its euro membership.

I am among 30 Greek-background MPs from around the globe who enter the parliament for discussions about the Greek crisis.

We are being lectured to by the ultra-Left Speaker of the parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou, about how Greece’s debts were applied illegally by nasty Germans and the dreaded Troika, made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. She distributes a report: Truth Committee on Public Debt . I can’t believe what I read.

If the Greek Government thought there was a genuine case that the debt was illegal, why had it not taken it to the European Court?

The document did not address real issues facing Greece: endemic tax avoidance; a bloated inefficient public service; one quarter of the population on pensions; 26 per cent unemployment; 60 per cent youth unemployment; 30 per cent of the recurrent Budget being spent on pensions and the rest on debt and public sector salaries; and very little money left to spend on new employment, creating infrastructure and economic growth.

My contribution was roundly attacked by the president of the Greek parliament’s production and trade committee, Litsa Ammanatidou, from the ruling Syriza party. She especially took exception to my suggestion that privatisation of assets in some cirumstances was appropriate.

Even Greece’s Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, is beginning to see that, while the taxation and austerity measures are tough, they will ultimately benefit Greece.

Germany, in particular, should be sensitive to Greece’s plight. Despite the devastation of Greece resulting from German occupation, Greece supported debt relief for Germany after World War II.

Greeks I spoke to recognise that they have to get their own house in order. Through it all, Greeks remain friendly and generous.

Australian Greeks are proud of our heritage. Melbourne is the third-largest Greek city.

Greece's Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.

We looked on in hope and pride when the Tsipras government appointed an Australian Greek, Yiannis Varoufakis, as its finance minister. We overlooked that he was a middle-level academic with little political experience.

Varoufakis made such a negative impact in negotiations and upset so many seasoned economists and negotiators with his idealistic lectures that in the end, even Tsipras had to dump him. Recently, he revealed a plan involving the Government hacking into the private accounts of citizens to set up a parallel banking system, allowing transfers outside of the banks if they could not get money from the Troika. Amazing. Fellow Greeks, don’t judge Australians by the contributions of Varoufakis.

At home, we should remember the Greek crisis has echoes of the debt Victoria accrued in the 1980s. We shouldn’t again allow the state to go into excessive debt, because in the future, we may not have the buffer of selling state assets.  

THEO THEOPHANOUS IS A POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER LABOR MINISTER