Greece was affected more than anyone else by the international financial crisis. The loses documented over the last four years can only compared to those experienced in a state of war. The Greek people have been burdened with much more than they can take. Despite this, both the country and the people persist.
One could say that Greece is back on its two feet, found a goal and is slowly beginning to find a rhythm. With hardships and mistakes, conflicts and backtracking, political and personal cost, Greece is finally creating the foundations for a restart. And just about the time when a crucial decision is to be taken, more and more issues arise and Greece strays off its path. Over the past few days our country is at the center of power games of the world’s elite.
The two fronts are indicative of the cycle of cynical rulers in the modern world. One the hand the IMF is pressuring Europe through Greece and on the other the Europeans is fighting a proxy war with the Russians over the control of energy networks and sources via Greece.
The IMF recognizes the errors it made in the troika, but points the blame to Europeans for the failure of the first rescue package for Greece. Ultimately, the IMF’s admission was an indirect attempt to pressure Germany into accepting a new haircut of the Greek debt. This in turn raises the issue of Europe’s reliability once more and renews the European debt crisis, for the time being. Greece once again comes to forefront and might end up paying the bill again. This is not the best for us, when we are this close to finally exiting the crisis.
The details of the DEPA and DESFA privatizations will be finalized over the next few days, while the negotiations for the Azeri “TAP” natural gas pipeline are still under way; however our European partners suddenly recalled the geopolitical value of our country and want to block the sale of DEPA to Russians. French, English, American and others who appeared indifferent to the possible acquisition of DEPA by the Russians are suddenly annoyed and are bringing up legal and other reasons through Brussels to block the sale. They intervene in a completely cynical manner, forgetting that they demand transparency in privatizations, in order to collect the greatest amount possible to help pay off the debt.
It is obvious that these power games cannot be acceptable by the wounded Greece of 2013.
The government is obliged to react to these games and demand, above all, respect for the Greek people’s effort. Of course, since it was forced to privatize, it will sell its assets to those who offer the most. Clear, straight up transactions, in order to put an end to these games that harm Greece and her people.
Antonis Karakousis
