Supreme Court Takes Action Against Yianis (with one n) Varoufakis' Plan B - VIDEOS

After playing down the initiative as a contingency plan that had never been implemented, and after denying the report and claiming that the media was using it to discredit him, former Finance Minister Varoufakis finally admitted that he had made secret preparations to hack into Greek citizens' tax codes to create a parallel banking payment system. More exactly, Varoufakis admitted that he was developing a parallel banking system to turn the tax records of citizens from euro into drachmas with the touch of a button. In a conference call with the London-based OMFIF think-tank, which was recorded on July 16 but only released on Monday July 28th, Varoufakis outlines his secret plan to a bunch of hedge fund investors and says that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had given him the go ahead to devise this plan (named "Plan B") before gaining government on January 25th. (The scandal was exposed by the Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday.)

In the recording, which was released on Monday and which is causing a storm of reactions, we can actually hear Varoufakis clearly saying that he had assembled a five-person team led by U.S. economist James Galbraith to do just that.

     "We were planning to create, surreptitiously, reserve accounts attached to every tax file number, without telling anyone, just to have this system in a function under wraps," he said, adding that "of course this would be euro-denominated but at the drop of a hat it could be converted to a new drachma."

At some point in the recording, the moderator warns Varoufakis that other people were listening to the teleconference but would not repeat its contents and Varoufakis replied: "I know they are. And even if they do I will deny I said it."

(By far this is the worse statement of all, because it shows how politicians demonize the press at times for daring to expose the truth).

The plan, according to the recording, was to hack into his own ministry's software to copy tax systems code. In order to achieve this, Varoufakis said that he hired a childhood friend who was a software expert to help with the planning.

(Please note that his childhood friend was from Columbia University. This is an important factor as will be explained below.)

After denying the reports at first, and then playing the role of a media victim, Varoufakis was finally forced to admit the truth after the recording came to light. In a statement that was posted on his blog, Varoufakis defends the contingency planning and slams the domestic and foreign media for indulging in "far-fetched articles that damage the quality of public debate".

     "Greece's Ministry of Finance would have been remiss had it made no attempt to draw up contingency plans," the statement said, adding the unit worked within government policy and its recommendations were aimed at keeping the country in the euro zone.

Meanwhile, and in a separate statement posted on Varoufakis' blog, Galbraith notes that he had (unofficially) worked on the top secret plan on the basis that the government was committed to negotiating within the euro zone. Apart from coming into contact with SYRIZA MP (and drachma lobbiest) Costas Lapavitsas Galbraith said in his post that his secret group had no cooperation with the radical Left Platform of SYRIZA and concluded its work in May.

And if that wasn't enough, on Tuesday Varoufakis told the Financial Times in an interview that as he was handing over the reins of the finance ministry to SYRIZA MP Euclid Tsakalotos on July 6, he presented him with a full account of the ministry’s projects, priorities and achievements during his five months in office. According to him, the Plan B payments system was also apparently part of this presentation but luckily no member of the press took any notice.

(He actually says this to the Financial Times!!!)

     "But when a subsequent telephone discussion with a large number of international investors, organised by my friend Norman Lamont and David Marsh of the official monetary and financial institutions forum, was leaked despite the Chatham House rule that we agreed with listeners, the press had a field day. Committed to unlimited openness and full transparency, I granted OMFIF permission to release the tapes.
     "While I understand the press’s excitement emanating from elements of that exchange, such as having to consider unorthodox means of gaining access to my own ministry’s systems, there is only one matter of significance from a public interest perspective. There is a hideous restriction of national sovereignty imposed by the troika of lenders upon Greek ministers who are denied access to departments of their ministries pivotal in implementing innovative policies. When sovereignty loss, due to unsustainable official debt, yields suboptimal policies in already stressed nations, one knows that there is something rotten in the euro’s kingdom." Financial Times

The confession has provoked a storm of reactions. On Monday, at least 24 members of the main opposition New Democracy party sent a formal request to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to clarify whether he was aware of the plan to introduce Greece to a new national currency. if he had approved it and to also specify the actions he would take with regard to the political and criminal investigation of the case.

In a separate statement, the main opposition New Democracy party claims that specific elements within the ruling SYRIZA party had a hidden agenda for Grexit and used various “methods" that are dangerous to Greece's democracy and its national interests. At the same time ND called on the Greek Prime Minister and his younger coalition partner Panos Kammenos (leader of ANEL) to break their silence and finally come clean with “convincing and responsible explanations”.

On its part, the Potami party party called on Tsipras to confirm whether or not he was aware of Varoufakis’s plan since it was revealed on the recording that the plan was drawn up after consultations with the PM himself.

Without a doubt all this evidence has severely damaged the image of the SYRIZA party. Varoufakis' own admission that there were plans to “hack” into Greek taxpayers personal tax codes has sent Greece's political, financial and social world abuzz.

The news has also captured the attention of the the Greek justice system. A meeting that was convened by Chief Prosecutor of Greece Euterpe Koutzamani including leading senior magistrates and prosecutors, decided that the Supreme Court should turn to parliament to prosecute Yanis (with one "n"). As such the Supreme Court would turn to the Greek National Assembly for this very reason.

According to legal circles, Greek justice cannot automatically start formal proceedings against the former finance minister as this is not allowed under the provisions of the law on ministerial responsibility.

(In accordance with the law on the criminal responsibility of Greek MPs, parliament must first decide whether or not to conduct a preliminary investigation and withdraw the  immunity of the MP accused before the Supreme Court can begin prosecuting the case.)

Meanwhile, General Secretary for Public Revenues Katerina Savvaidou responded with an order for an urgent internal inquiry to be held under oath so as to investigate whether staff at the secretariat had committed illegal acts. According to an announcement, there will be an internal check of all IT systems to try and uncover whether any unauthorized accessing of data occurred.

And if that wasn't enough, there are also two lawsuits for treason which have already been filed against Yanis (with one "n") Varoufakis. The first by the non-parliamentary Telia party, former actor and mayor of Stilida Apostolos Gletsos and the second by Athenian lawyer Mr. Giannopoulos.

Regardless what decision parliament adopts, the Supreme Court will still go after all (non-political) persons involved in the drafting and implementation of this plan. As such expect to see action against Michalis Chatzitheodorou, Yanis Varoufakis’ childhood friend and information systems professor at the University of Colombia in the US, who was acting Chief Secretary for Information Services. As admitted by Varoufakis on the recording, Chatzitheodorou had developed the scheme to hack into the tax records of Greek citizens with the use of his own personal laptop.

Knowing very well that he will soon be faced with the law, Michalis Chatzitheodorou on Tuesday denied any “intervention in the information systems of the Treasury" claiming in a statement that all revelations regarding the hacking of the ministry systems are "absolutely untrue". Although Varoufakis did not outright name Chatzitheodorou during the infamous teleconference with the London-based Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, his identity was made known via the Greek media.

During the teleconference, the former Greek finance minister described in detail the attempt to create a parallel banking system which would resort to the drachma “at a touch of the button”, if negotiations with Greece’s creditors failed.

On the role of Chatzitheodorou he said that the general secretariat of information systems was controlled by him directly.

     "I appointed a good friend of mine, a childhood friend of mine, who had become a professor of IT at Columbia University in the States, and so on, I put him there because I trusted him to develop the system. At some point, a week or so after we moved into the ministry, he calls me up and says to me: You know what, I control the machines, I control the hardware. I don’t control the software. The software belongs to the troika-controlled general secretariat for public revenues.
    "What do we do? So we had a meeting, just the two of us, nobody else knew. He said: Listen, if I ask for permission from them to start implementing this program then the troika will immediately know we are designing a parallel system. Well, I said, That won’t do, we don’t want to reveal our hand at this stage. So I authorised him, and you can’t tell anyone that, this is totally between us, to hack…"

In his statement Chatzitheodorou says that  "The General Secretariat of Information Systems and Logistics and me personally, have designed, let alone attempted, any kind of intervention to its systems." He also notes that "the General Secretariat for Information Systems has established procedures and strict standards that guarantee the security of personal data“

OMFIF forum on July 16th

During the 4th minute of the recording, Varoufakis begins to analyze the main points of his plan B. Just before the 5th minute, he goes into detail on how they were going to create alternative accounts of all Greek taxpayers, including the use of smart phone applications. In order to achieve this they planned to issue new pin codes, which in turn would have formed a parallel payment system. At 6 minutes into the recording, Varoufakis begins talking about the parallel banking system that would have allowed the government to act when the European Central Bank would close Greek banks and at 7 minutes into the recording he begins talking about his childhood friend whom he had appointed to hack the software program of his own ministry.

Here is the recording

It should be noted that before the media began broadcasting the recording, Varoufakis was denying all the reports and charging the opposition and the media of propaganda against him and the SYRIZA party. A few hours after the media disseminated the recording, he made a statement on his personal blog admitting that it was all true.

(His statement leaves it to be understood that instead of negotiating with Greece's creditors in the first few months after SYRIZA was elected to power, he was more concentrated on materializing his plan to return Greece to the drachma. Another interesting factor is that the statement was written in the third person.)

Here is his statement.

     "During the Greek government’s negotiations and until the referendum, Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis oversaw a working group with a remit to prepare contingency plans against the creditors’ efforts to undermine the Greek government and in view of forces at work within the euro zone to have Greece expelled from the euro. The working group was convened by the Minister, at the behest of the Prime Minister, and was coordinated by Professor James K. Galbraith."

Then the saga begins. Speaking as an outsider, the statement on Varoufakis claims that he was/is a victim of strong criticism from the media and that the government had no contingency plan in the case of Grexit.

     "Ever since Varoufakis announced the existence of the working group, the media indulged in far-fetched articles that damage the quality of public debate, attempting to describe the group as a ‘conspiracy’ working on the return to the national currency. This is defamation. The Ministry of Finance’s working group worked exclusively within the framework of government policy and its recommendations were always aimed at serving the public interest, at respecting the laws of the land, and at keeping the country in the euro zone."

The full text of Yanis Varoufakis’ statement in English and Greek is available here:
http: //yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/07/27/statement-by-yanis-varoufakis-on-th ...

In addition to his own statement, Varoufakis published a public statement by Professor Galbraith in which he admits that he was a coordinator of this secret working group.

Commenting on the fresh evidence First Deputy Speaker Alexis Mitropoulos on Tuesday blamed Varoufakis for the austerity of the measures.

    "With his lack of modesty, his naivety, his zeal to showcase his own ideas it seems that he has hurt the Greek issue."

Mitropoulos said and added:"German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and the creditors were likely aware of his intentions and as a result we should now accept these harsh measures and plan. Probably he had confided them or had expressed them as a threat, or as one of his plans," he said in statements to private MEGA TV.

HellasFappe's take on things

Frappers... A couple of years ago, a leap to death from the general secretary of the culture ministry almost brought down the entire government of Costas Karamanlis. For days the general secretariat's secret affair with one of his cabinet members made front page news in an attempt to discredit the government of Costas Karamanlis. While today a plan to return Greece to the drachma and take our economy back 2, or even 3 generations is described as being "propaganda" (and even an ingenious plan) by the same people who used the leap of death to crawl their way into power.

Obviously the severity of these two cases cannot be compared, yet there is no hysteria over Varoufakis' actions at all. One case involves a hot affair, and was a cause to bring down a government and the other involves the savings of Greek citizens and yet there is not a care in the world and the government and leadership of this country is not to blame Why? The answer is simple. The Left is in power and the Greek state is finally naked in the sense that it has always worked in favor of the progressive factions in Greece. No wonder all the unions are operated by the progressives.

Not even Spielberg could have come up with a better scenario. Think about it, a minister plans to devise a program to purposely exit Greece out of the Eurozone at the behest of the Prime Minister and admits this to hedge fund investors who we all know are waiting to prey on Greece like vultures. Yet not one nose is bleeding over the matter because hey... its not cool to be bothered with what the Left does because it is "progressive". It is insane!  Here is actual evidence of a planned coup by secret group, or as described by HF in previous articles as the 'drachma lobby" with hired foreign and domestic experts who are all somehow linked to Columbia University. The same university which George Papandreou also gave lectures at, and the same institution which is highly backed by none other than billionaire George Soros. Let us not forget that Soros brought down the Bank of England a few years ago, and we all know how much he wanted to bring down the Eurozone. Another interesting bit of information that was revealed on Tuesday involves an aide of the Clinton family who said that had Greece exited the Eurozone in 2010 (or under George Papandreou -as planned-) today Greece would have been a haven for business and an entirely different place. Should we also remind all of you that the Clintons are also highly backed by George Soros as well?

Imagine if all of this was happening under a conservative government. Greek cities would be thrown into complete chaos by swarms of anarchists (such as the December riots 2008), the public sector would have been staging protests all over the country, schools would have already shut down, half of Greece would have been ablaze and the West (US and UK) would have even called back their Ambassadors. But no... Now that a progressive government is in power, and a minister has admitted devising a plan to destroy everything Greeks have worked for for the past 20+ years -with the supposed green light of the prime minister himself- everything is peachy. The media is at fault for making a big deal out of the case, and no one should be concerned because according to progressives this move was not only right, it was also "ingenious".

Greek citizens may have once again been duped by the progressive left, but luckily they are now beginning to realize that they were also conned into voting "NO" at the recent referendum a few weeks ago because -as revealed over the past few days- the overall plan from day one was to return Greece to the drachma! It is going to be quite (sadly) entertaining to see the reaction of Greek tax payers when the Leftist Memorandum comes to pass (especially those who voted for the government). The previous governments were traitors, they were "germanotsoliades" they dared to vote YES to stay in the Euro, but no banks ever closed, our economy was beginning to show a surplus and the Greek state finally began to shrink.

No wonder no one takes this country seriously at times. There is no logic behind this kind of thinking, only madness. Whatever the Left does is acceptable and whatever the Right does is not. It just proves how divided we are as a society,. how the civil war never ended in Greece, and how a few wannabes play on this to not only widen the gap between us, but to also bank on it.

Greece may have given birth to democracy but it definitely suffers from Varoufakis bourgeois style rock stars who live for five minutes of fame at the expense of the masses. This country has actually been suffering from this for 40 years now and the Left has been very successful in gathering support because they present it as something cool, something progressive, something different.

Digest it, political parties are companies and sell ideologies. They do not care about me or you or any one of us, all they care about is their five minutes of fame and power (the money also helps). The repercussions of what happened in July will begin to surface once tourism dies down, and Greek citizens realize how much damage was made.

We need to rid ourselves once and for all from this type of thinking. We don't need foreign armies to destroy this country, we do a pretty good job of poking our own eyes all by ourselves. 

References: Kathimerini, YouTube, SkaiTv, MEGA Tv, Reuters, BBC, The TOC, ANA-MPA, Proto-Thema, Enikos

The Drachma Lobby Has Its Man: Yianis (with one "n") Varoufakis

credit kourdistoportocali

For UPDATE please check end of present article

Beginning in 2001 and up until 2009 more than 300 billion euros were removed from Greek banks and transferred to foreign accounts while a further 200 billion was transferred over the last FIVE years. When one takes this into account then one can understand that the drachma lobby -which is rallying for Greece to remove itself from the Eurozone- is very powerful. Most of this money, as most of us already know, has been stolen from the Greek people either through the black market, kickbacks, blackmail, trafficking and other types of corruption. Now the owners of this huge sum of money are seeking a political leader that will allow them to increase these funds by 10-fold by forcing Greece to return to the drachma.

The idea that everything in Greece will be up for sale -at a top notch price- under the drachma is very attractive to the drachma lobby and they have been rubbing their hands with glee and anticipation in order to take advantage of all the state property that will be up for sale once Greece adopts its national currency once more, and a few devaluations have been made.

Most of the holders of these accounts -who are obviously some of the wealthiest families in Greece- had bet on the rise of SYRIZA, and its current leader to materialize their plan. They were actually convinced that with Tsipras at the Maximos Mansion, Greece would once again welcome the drachma in no time. Luckily it did not take long for Tsipras to realize what was at play and he turned his back on them and decided to keep Greece in the eurozone.

According to kourdistoportocali, these people are now focusing on Yianis (with one "n") Varoufakis who we all know loves to be in the spotlight, as well as is a primary example of their bourgeois lifestyle. From what we can see, Yianis (with one 'n') seems to be enjoying this role.

Keep this long intro in mind when reading the latest interview from our Yianis (with one 'n') Varoufakis which was published by the British New Statesman magazine on Monday. In an exclusive report, regarding his short five-month term as finance minister and the negotiations over the Greek debt in Europe, Varoufakis said that the Eurogroup is completely dominated by Germany. According to him, the Greek government was “set up” and he charged the defenders of European "democracy" of lacking from “democratic scruples".

In the interview, he obviously blames Greece's partners for "refusing to negotiate” while he stresses that the insistence on a "comprehensive agreement" was an indication of this unwillingness. In his opinion, Greece’s creditors delayed the negotiations and ultimately forced the government of Alexis Tsipras into a accepting “absolutely impossible, totally non-viable and toxic” proposals.

And here is where it gets juicy.

He confesses that he had a three-pronged plan for the negotiations, which included issuing IOUs, carrying out a haircut of the Greek bonds of 2012 held by the ECB (or announce the intention to do so) and taking control of the Bank of Greece. Varoufakis clarified that the IOUs would act as a transition to a NEW CURRENCY and then admitted that the idea of the IOU was restricted to a small number of government officials but was eventually shot down.

In the interview Varoufakis said that on July 5th, while crowds were celebrating the victory of the "NO" vote, six members of the government were invited to vote on a new project (parallel currency). According to him, only two voted in favor while four voted against, and because he was not able to convince Tsipras... his departure from the government was "inevitable". Before ending the interview, he left it to be understood that he had mapped out his plan to the government but did not find any support.

      "As the crowds were celebrating on Sunday night in Syntagma Square, Syriza’s six-strong inner cabinet held a critical vote. By four votes to two, Varoufakis failed to win support for his plan, and couldn’t convince Tsipras. He had wanted to enact his “triptych” of measures earlier in the week, when the ECB first forced Greek banks to shut. Sunday night was his final attempt. When he lost his departure was inevitable. That very night the government decided that the will of the people, this resounding ‘No’, should not be what energised the energetic approach [Varoufakis' plan]. Instead it should lead to major concessions to the other side: the meeting of the council of political leaders, with our Prime Minister accepting the premise that whatever happens, whatever the other side does, we will never respond in any way that challenges them. And essentially that means folding. … You cease to negotiate.”
     "Varoufakis’s resignation brought an end to a four-and-a-half year partnership with Tsipras, a man he met for the first time in late 2010. An aide to Tsipras had sought him out after his criticisms of George Papandreou’s government, which accepted the first Troika bailout in 2010.
     "He [Tsipras] wasn’t clear back then what his views were, on the drachma versus the euro, on the causes of the crises, and I had very, well shall I say, ‘set views’ on what was going on. A dialogue begun … I believe that I helped shape his views of what should be done.”
     "And yet Tsipras diverged from him at the last. He understands why. Varoufakis could not guarantee that a Grexit would work. After SYRIZA took power in January, a small team had, “in theory, on paper,” been thinking through how it might. But he said that, “I’m not sure we would manage it, because managing the collapse of a monetary union takes a great deal of expertise, and I’m not sure we have it here in Greece without the help of outsiders.”

Connection to Soros?

A post by the birdflu666 blog claims that Varoufakis has continually praised billionaire George Soros' proposals for solving the euro crisis in many of the interviews he had given abroad. According to the author, Varoufakis seems to completely ignore the fact that the billionaire hedge funder has a clear conflict of interest in solving the euro crisis in as far as Soros has had so many opportunities for becoming so very rich from it.

References

• http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/07/exclusive-yanis-varoufakis-opens-about-his-five-month-battle-save-greece
• http://kourdistoportocali.com/post/45453/varoufakis 
• https://birdflu666.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/does-soros-control-syriza-new-greek-finance-minister-looks-like-controlled-opposition/

UPDATE - George Soros, Jeff Sachs, Tsipras and Varoufakis

credit kourdistoportocali.com

It took the sharp eye of the kourdistoportocali.com team, and a talented photographer, to snap this photo (early June 2015) with Yanis (with one 'n') Varoufakis writing a note to a recipient named Robert Johnson with a message that involves billionaire George Soros, Jeff Sachs, Alexis Tsipras and himself.

Clearly Rob. Let's have this conversation.
The next day, George Soros asked to see Jeff Sachs to ask him to contact my Prime Minister and urge him to pull me away from the government since I am the obstacle to an agreement. Jeff also wanted to tell Alexis that it is his duty to accept any agreement, and to forget the (issue of) debt relief because Europe can not afford to have two open fronts, one in Greece and one in ... Ukraine.

This is what Yanis (with one "n") Varoufakis wrote, as seen in the picture above.

The author of this shocking article on kourdistoportocali notes that he wanted to expose this news because it is clear that Greece is in the center of a global conflict of interests (and at the center of an obvious attack on the Euro).

Reference: http://kourdistoportocali.com/post/45459/jeff-sachs

BREAKING - Russia States That It Is Willing to Consider Loans To Greece

Ahead of talks between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich was quoted in an interview on RT television as saying that Moscow is willing to consider giving financial aid to Greece.

     "We will support any decision (on the Greek debt crisis) that is proposed by Greece and our European partners," Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said. "The most important things for us are investment projects and trade with Greece. If financial support is needed, we will consider this question," he said.
      "A stable Europe and a stable Greece is a priority for us. We will support the resolution of Greece’s financial crisis by all possible means," the deputy prime minister stressed.

Many countries in Europe want sanctions against Russia to be lifted as soon as possible, and Greece is one of those countries, he noted.

     "Those countries think about their economy, and not about politics. We believe that this is a constructive approach," Dvorkovich added.
     "We definitely hold more consultations now with countries like this than with leading European countries that do not want to continue economic dialogue," he stressed.

Check VIDEO at 2.25

Sources - Itar-Tass, RT, YouTube

Debt Truth Committee Results: Greek debt is "illegal, illegitimate and odious"

Ahead of Thursday's crucial Eurogroup meeting, the Greek Parliament's Truth Committee on Public Debt on Wednesday released a preliminary report deeming that the Greek debt is illegal, illegitimate and odious. The committee concluded that the debt imposed on Greece and its citizens by the country's creditors directly infringes on the human rights of Greeks and is "illegal, illegitimate and odious".

This stresses that the entire adjustment program imposed on Greece "was and remains a politically orientated program," while challenging arguments that the policies imposed on Greece aim to improve its capacity to pay back the debt. It concluded that Greece was the victim of an "premeditated and organised" attack and of a "violent, illegal, and immoral mission" to shift private debt onto the public sector.

     "All the evidence we present in this report shows that Greece not only does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay this debt first and foremost because the debt emerging from the Troika's arrangements is a direct infringement on the fundamental human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to the conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal, illegitimate, and odious," the report said.

Among others, the report notes that the unsustainability of Greece's debt was evident to all involved from the outset, yet Greek authorities and other EU governments, with the assistance of the media, had "conspired against the restructuring of public debt in 2010 in order to protect financial institutions."

The report is divided into nine chapters, the first of which analyzes the growth of Greek debt prior to the advent of the troika, after the 1980s. This asserts that the increase in public debt was not due to excessive public spending but "extremely high rates of interest to creditors, excessive and unjustified military spending, loss of tax revenues due to illicit capital outflows, state recapitalisation of private banks, and the international imbalances created via the flaws in the design of the Monetary Union itself."

Chapters 2 and 3 look at Greek public debt during 2010-2015, concluding that the first loan agreement of 2010 aimed primarily to rescue Greek and other European private banks.

The 4th chapter looks at what it calls a "Debt System Mechanism" set up by the agreements implemented since May 2010, claiming that they created "a substantial amount of new debt" and generated "abusive costs" that deepened the crisis further.

Chapter 5 examines the conditionalities attached to the loan agreements, claiming these "led directly to the economic unviability and unsustainability of debt."

The following chapter then looks at the human rights impact of the programs, finding that the measures directly violated rights that Greece and its partners are "obliged to respect, protect and promote under domestic, regional and international law."

The legal issues associated with such violations, as well as violation of the Greek Constitution, are examined in the next chapter, which concludes that:

     "The agreements contain abusive clauses, effectively coercing Greece to surrender significant aspects of its sovereignty," and cites a series of reasons why these agreements are rendered invalid.

The next chapter assesses the debts in terms of whether they are odious, illegitimate, illegal and unsustainable, finding them guilty on all counts. Among others, it says the debt to the IMF is illegal "since its concession breached the IMF's own statutes," while those to the ECB were similarly suspect because it "over-stepped its mandate by imposing the application of macroeconomic adjustment programs via its participation in the troika."

     "Debts to the ECB are also illegitimate and odious, since the principal raison d'etre of the Securities Market Program (SMP) was to serve the interests of the financial institutions, allowing the major European and Greek private banks to dispose of their Greek bonds," the report said.

Debts to the EFSF are judged illegal on the grounds that they violate treaties on the functioning of the European Union, while bilateral loans are seen as illegal because "they violate the procedure provided by the Greek constitution," and illegitimate "since they were not used for the benefit of the population, but merely enabled the private creditors of Greece to be bailed out."

     "The debt to private creditors should be considered illegal because private banks conducted themselves irresponsibly before the Troika came into being, failing to observe due diligence, while some private creditors such as hedge funds also acted in bad faith," the report said.

The final and 9th chapter deals with "legal foundations for repudiation and suspension of the Greek sovereign debt" presenting options for its cancellation.

ANA-MPA

Greek Gov't & EBRD sign 500mln funding agreement

Greece and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement on Thursday for the distribution of funds up to 500 million euros annually to support reforms and a return to economic growth.

The agreement was signed in Tbilisi, Georgia, between Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism Minister George Stathakis and the bank's representatives.

EBRD's shareholders have voted for the Bank to invest in Greece until the end of 2020. The organisation will deploy its expertise in attracting and encouraging foreign and domestic investment, strengthening the role of the private sector and deepening regional integration. Specifically, the EBRD will help address the issue of insufficient capital for Greek private companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. This is a key barrier to growth, where the EBRD can contribute significantly with its equity and commercial debt products.

The EBRD will also engage, where possible, in expanding the private sector's role in infrastructure and energy. Greece is a natural trade and investment partner for many countries in south-eastern Europe where the EBRD has a strong presence. The Bank will support investments and policy measures which are conducive to integration.

EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said:

     "We are very happy to be able to apply our particular expertise in the private sector to the Greek economy. The EBRD will be fully engaged to make the most of its temporary mandate in the country. By concentrating on the private sector we are seeking to actively contribute to the reform and recovery of the country's economy."

A Greek Economy ministry announcement said the agreement was of great importance for the Greek economy as it could contribute significantly towards economic recovery in the country and boosting both liquidity to Greek enterprises, mostly small- and medium-sized, and employment.

The EBRD also intends to open an office in Athens.

ANA/MPA

New tax intervention package almost ready

With the restart of technical negotiations in the Brussels Group the Greek government seeks to finalize a package of interventions in the tax system aimed to boost public revenues without taking any horizontal measures. In this framework, the government is redefining the criteria of tax cases to be inspected in priority by the tax administration in order to strengthen the efficiency of the collection mechanism.

A government council meeting late on Wednesday examined the first tax interventions on which there is convergence with the institutions without reaching any final decisions. At the same time, the Finance ministry is promoting two changes on tax control: first, focusing on cases with big tax collection interest and secondly, launching procedures for identifying non-performing tax debt. Overdue tax debt to the state is currently around 75 billion euros, of which more than 50 billion euros are considered to be non-collected.

The government also examined tax interventions such as offering favorable terms of stating bank deposits held in foreign banks, introducing a lottery measure as an incentive to collect retail sales receipts, introducing a single VAT tax factor, obligatory use of credit/debit cards for transactions over 70 euros in all tourist islands of the country and imposing a higher tax burden on larger incomes.

ANA-MPA

Moody’s downgrades Greek credit rating to ‘Caa2’ over uncertainty

The Moody's Ratings Agency said in an announcement on Thursday that it downgraded Greece’s from “Caa1” to “Caa2”, while also assigning it a “negative outlook”, in response to the political and financial uncertainty. According to the announcement, the short-term review has not been affected and remains “not prime”, while review prospects are also negative. It also said that the latest downgrade concludes a review that began on February 6th.

Moody’s said that the main reasons for this development is that there is major uncertainty as to whether the Greek government is going to reach an agreement with its creditors so that it can in return cover its needs. Furthermore, with a week economy and fragile political situation, there are high risks in the implementation of a midterm program.

Flampouraris: Greek citizens will support Gov't "if we go to referendum”

Speaking to MEGA Tv, Minister of State, Alekos Flampouraris expressed optimism that the government is going to arrive at an agreement with its creditors. When asked about the possibility of a referendum, Flampouraris said that if Greece's lenders throw the “Hardouvelis email” set of reforms on the table, then SYRIΖΑ will be forced to hold a referendum, since it cannot take such decisions without a mandate from the Greek people.

While pointing to recent opinion polls where SYRIZA clearly holds a lead over the main opposition New Democracy party, Flampouraris estimated that citizens would side with the government should a referendum be called. He said citizens appear to trust Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the negotiation efforts that are being made with the country's lenders.

When asked what the government would do, if it is faced with the dilemma of either paying wages and pensions or the next IMF loan payment, he underlined that the government will chose to first pay wages and pensions.

He said that at some point the government intends to implement its election promises, but noted that the controversial ENFIA real estate tax may be preserved for six months and that the Christmas bonus pension will be paid out, even if this is delayed. He also argued that the people are going to experience major changes, as soon as Greece's liquidity crisis is resolved.

Turning to the formation of the political negotiation team and the allegations that claim that Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was side-lined, Flampouraris noted that the Varoufakis has held onto all of the powers he had prior to this development. He was unable to confirm whether he would be accompanied by Government VP Yannis Dragasakis or someone else at the upcoming Eurogroup session.

In his opinion, the agreement made on February 20th was a success, as it revised the requirement for a primary surplus and essentially “ended” the fifth review of the bailout program, nonetheless he admitted that the government made a “mistake” in overestimating “the democratic, transparent and social attitude" of its partners.

PROVOCATION: Report Says Greek Sovereignty Questioned if IMF Debts Cannot be Paid

A study that was just released and which is addressed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raises the sensitive issue of  national sovereignty, suggesting that countries that cannot pay off their debts on time to the IMF, should have their national sovereignty revoked.

The document (picture above) is signed by James M. Boughton, a former executive of IMF.

A report in enikonomia.gr claims that in the document, Boughton, who was working for the IMF between 1981 to 2012, analyses the exact measures that should be taken in case a state cannot pay off its financial obligations.

The way the financial crisis in Greece has been handled demonstrated that the financial system has some ‘holes’, Boughton says.

Source: Enikonomia.gr

(Editor's Note: M@laka Giorgaki... If it wasn't for you Greece would never be in this situation. Nonetheless we are hopeful that Tsipras will keep his word -forget about all the silly rhetoric that his party is grinding in the mind of Greeks- and be prompt with its payments to these reserve-war-mongering buffoons. If not... Molon Lave m@lakes.)

Varoufakis encourages Greeks to declare overseas bank deposits or face repercussions

Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis and Minister of State Panagiotis Nikoloudis met with a delegation from Switzerland on Tuesday which was headed by Deputy Minister for International Financial Affairs Jacques de Watteville. According to various press reports, the meeting was held to discuss the exchange of banking information, in relation to tax evasion and other criminal activities.

The Minister of Finance said that Greece is prepared to introduce legislation to make it easier for overseas account-holders to voluntarily declare the fund they have outside of Greece. According to one report in the To Vima newspaper, the government plans on taxing “hidden funds” with a 15% rate and allowing the account-holders to keep the funds abroad, however, should depositors decide to return the funds to Greece, then the tax rate will be less.

(Common sense and reasonable)

There are going to be repercussions, however, to all of those who do not respond to the government’s call to voluntarily reveal what funds they have in overseas (or even domestic) accounts, since they will be faced with a full-fledged audit.

Fines Imposed By HCMC On Investors for Naked Short Selling

The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) said in an announcement this week that it imposed approximately 1.6 million euros worth of fines on foreign investors for naked short selling. The fines concern the period April and May of 2014, when the systemic bank capital increase were reported to have occurred. One thing is certain, they are probably just a drop in the bucket to other periods when short-selling once again occurred (Specifically during George Papandreou's reign in power).

According to Greek press reports some of the companies that were fined include:

• Burlington Global Capital Investments was fined 460,000 euros for the naked short selling of National Bank stock
• MCI Services Ltd was fined 400,000 euros for the naked short selling of National Bank stock
• Quantum Partners L.P. was fined 65,000 euros for the naked short selling of National Bank stock
• Aptus Global Financials Fund was fined 80,000 euros for the naked short selling of Eurobank stock
• GFS Map Trust Macrosynergy was fined 10,000 euros for the naked short selling of Alpha Bank stock
• J.P. Morgan Securities PLC was fined 10,000 euros for the naked short selling of Alpha Bank stock

Chrysogonos: “Nothing unreasonable with setting caps on pensions”

SYRIZA MEP Costas Chrysogonos was quoted as saying on Monday that there is “nothing unreasonable” with the introduction of maximum caps on pensions (something which directly goes against everything the government has maintained up till now). In an interview to the Athina 984 radio station, Chrysogonos said that a pension is not intended to make a pensioner richer, but rather a means ensure a dignified living after retirement.

The MEP noted that an introduction of pension caps could help protect those on low pensions.

When asked how much a maximum pension should be, Chrysogonos estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 may be enough and added that the caps would help avoid any further cuts in supplementary pensions, which would affect the majority of pensioners, who he noted earn about 600 to 700 euros.

ANALYSIS: 10% Flat Tax! Shock Economics or the Key to Greece’s problems? The Current Situation

Although the Greek economy is classified as an advanced high income economy, this has done very little in convincing its Eurozone partners, creditors and especially the markets, that Greece is anything but ‘’fiscally undisciplined’’. Since 2009, the country has been following an externally imposed policy of fiscal austerity, spearheaded by the ‘’fiscally disciplined’’ Germany.

Exclusive to HellasFrappe

From Vasillis (Basil) Tomaras

Leading economists, business leaders, fund managers and even the current SYRIZA government, all agree that policies have done very little to improve the situation of the Greek people. The levels of unemployment levels, the prime indicator of the effect austerity has on the ground , are/is still at an appalling 26% and a vast majority of which is youth as half of the population between 15-24 is currently unemployed.

The ‘’welfare state’’, the myth and the real causes

A common and dominant narrative about Greece and the causes of the crisis is that it is a generous over- bloated welfare state. According to the OECD’s statistics for social expenditure over GDP, this is not the case:

The full Greek state expenditure is at close to 48.7%, which is marginally higher than the EU-15 average (estimated at 0.6%). However, budget deficit is approximately 4.3% higher than the EU-15 average. What does this all mean? In simple terms, it’s not state expenditures that heightened the economic crisis in Greece but rather state revenue, or to be more precise a lack thereof.

Traditionally, tax evasion in Greece has been described as a ‘’national sport’’ by even the highest ranked government officials. The problem of corruption and tax evasion in Greece is well known and is influenced by many factors.

Austerity, the real shock economics!

Without a doubt, the impact of austerity has been felt in all aspects of life and in all sectors of the economy: 

• Recession with no end in sight: The continuous drop in GDP, the lowest in the entire post-war period, led to the lowest reduction in domestic demand and consumption. Ensuing decrease in production led to the loss of thousands of jobs in the private sector (at one point even numbering in the thousands daily).
• Rapid labour decline: This resulted from the steep increase of insecure and uninsured work, degrading wages, decline of workers’ rights and also from the deregulation of workers accords.
• ·The slow killing of the middle class: Traditionally, the middle class economy consisted of small and medium sized businesses that were generously funded in the past by the banking sector which had no apprehensions about granting generous loans and overdraft lines with minimal collateral and oversight. After these financial institutions were respectively starved of funds, a lethal combination of liquidity depletion, decline in consumption and introduction of ‘’emergency’’ taxes, resulted in most of these middle income enterprises subsequently closing down (65.000 in 2010 alone).
• Migration push factors and ‘’brain drain’’: In contrast to the usual yellow press publications of the ‘’lazy’’ Greek, the truth is that the workforce in Greece is among the best educated in Europe and the most productive, actually surpassing their German counterparts. While those studying in academic institutions abroad were discouraged from returning to Greece after graduating, many already educated and skilled professionals also left the country.
• ·Homelessness: Along with the pre-crisis immigrant homelessness which was largely unreported, newly austerity borne destitute also joined their ranks. People and families with medium and higher educational backgrounds who previously belonged to the middle class. Notably, homelessness increased 25% between the period 2009-2011 (over 20.000 by NGO estimates).
• ·    Record level of suicides: One can only feel sorrow and sympathy for Dimitris Christoulas, a retired pensioner, who publicly committed suicide in early April 2012 at Syntagma square, just outside the Greek Parliament, leaving his family in complete sorrow. This gentle, cultured and above all sane man cited in a politically fueled suicide letter, that he preferred a dignified end to his life in lieu of an undignified existence after government austerity measures slashed his pension. Sadly, he is not the only victim of this crisis, as austerity driven suicides skyrocketed as much as 40% between the period 2010-2011.      
• ·    Disintegration of the health services: The health care system also suffered greatly, through reduced access to health care services following massive cuts. As a result, HIV infections increased by 52% between the periods 2010-2011, while drug prevention centers and psychiatric clinics shut down after tough budget cuts.

The Shadow economy of Sandanski and how Bulgaria is benefitting from the crisis

Greece and Bulgaria have very different social and economic environments. In the interest of not confusing the reader with national quantitative data, I will rather limit indication to a bite size measure by making reference to Sandanski.

To most Europeans and Greeks alike, the Bulgarian border town of Sandanski may not be on their radar, but to the inhabitants of Northern Greece, the town is very well known. This is due to the fact it has benefited extremely well from the Greek financial crisis. Thousands of Greek vehicles cross the border every day to fill up on gas since it is 40% less expensive; Housewives do their grocery shopping; Dentists, many of whom have relocated from the capital Sofia, have opened up offices in Sandanski to service Greek patients bearing Euros; etc.. Additionally, scores of Greek pensioners made a permanent move to Sandanski simply because their reduced pensions were not enough to live on in Greece.

The most notable migration trend to Sandanski of all are Greek businesses. The traditionally bustling Northeastern Greek town of Serres, 50Kms south of the border has become a shadow of its former past as many businesses moved north to Bulgaria. According to Dimitris Giannakis, the president of Serres’ Chamber of Commerce and industry, at least 5.000 Greek businesses were struck from the registry over the past five years. It’s painfully obvious where they moved to (according to the Bulgarian Register these estimates could be as high as 8.000). This is not taking into account migration to other countries such as FYROM, Albania, Romania and Serbia. As it stands, Greece is the third largest investor in Bulgaria after the Netherlands and Austria.

So the obvious question is, why did all these Greek businesses move to Bulgaria? And what are the Bulgarians doing better which the Greeks are not?

Taxation - Greece’s Achilles heel.

Two countries with radically different taxation policies put into debt perspective.

Bulgaria - When Bulgaria exited the Eastern-Bloc sphere of influence in 1991, it had just over €10 Billion state debt, which represented 180% of GDP. Bulgaria entered the EU in 2007 after maintaining a decade long policy of budget surpluses and reforming their tax codes in the process, after which public debt reached a record low of 13.7% over GDP (the second lowest in Europe after Estonia). Although Bulgaria was not immune to the European financial crisis, thanks to sound fiscal policies and the resulting €4.3 Billion state fiscal reserve, they managed to ride out the financial storm and maintain a public debt of only 18%. These post crisis deficits levels are comparable to those of Norway, Sweden and Austria.

Greece - Although Eurozone entry had ‘’strict’’ criteria for government to GDP ratio of under 60%, we can all agree that 14 years down the line and omitting creative accounting practices of the past, the true present situation is anything but Maastricht compliant.

Balkan economic wars

Bulgaria has benefited from major investments. Here are a few examples. 

• ·         Montupet automotive (for those who remember the DeLorean) has invested €100M in Bulgaria and employed almost 1.000 people.
• ·         The telecommunications arm of AIG invested $2B in several plants.
• ·         American Standard - $240M.
• ·         AES Energy Generation Corp - $1.4B.
• ·         NU Image Film Productions - $28M.
• ·         Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and IBM have their European call and service centres in Sofia.
• ·         Turkish companies Sisecam and Alcomet opened plants that employ 2.000 people (blue & white collar) combined.
• ·         Germany’s SAP opened SAP labs, an ICT facility in Bulgaria employing over 500.

Bulgaria is not the only country that did the prudent thing by lowering its taxes and simplifying their tax codes.  Albania and FYROM both have 10%, while Romania and Serbia have 16% and 15% respectively. Add to the mix, the brutal Greek 23% VAT rate and the fact that you can open a limited liability company in Bulgaria with just €1 share capital (€4.500 in Greece), it’s no wonder why Greece is losing the economic war against its Balkan neighbors.

In conclusion, and according to very conservative estimates, a combination of intolerable tax rates, a high VAT rate and inflated payroll tax has driven one quarter of the Greek economy underground by tax evasion, transfer pricing practices etc., while the more honest ones in the formal economy are either forced to shut down or move to other countries such as Bulgaria. What’s more, massive migration of businesses from Greece continually gains momentum and at the same time delivering a huge blow to the state coffers in the process.

The call to reduce taxes and tackle reforms

The promises made by the previous ND-PASOK administration that there would be a return to markets in 2014 has yet to materialize. It also hasn’t silenced market experts and economists alike who claim that this will not be attainable in 2015 either, since a third bailout package is looming on the horizon.

As EU-IMF bailout packages come with painful reforms and demands, there is no doubt that Greece will once again be forced into a vicious storm of austerity amidst a tranquil sea of more competitive economies right smack on its borders.

There has recently been several appeals by the likes of economists such as Nathan Lewis and even Steve Forbes to adopt measures that will not only stem the exodus of businesses, but also provide a stimulus to foreign investment and economic development.

•  Adoption of a flat tax on personal income and corporate profits (which will also deter tax evasion. After all, who in their right mind is going to evade 10%?).
• Axing the ridiculously high payroll tax from 45% to 10%.
•  Reducing VAT to 15%. 

The current leftist-led coalition government of SYRIZA which claimed victory during the January elections did so largely on a radical platform of taxing the wealthy, easing tax burdens on the poor and more state interference in the economy. This approach is a trip down the wrong avenue known in economists’ circles as Sweetwater economics and is doomed to fail. It will not only deteriorate the already toxic situation, but it is also going to alienate valuable investors (domestic and foreign).

Is the Greek government seriously seeking a development stimulus that will bring in foreign investment, deter tax evasion and fill up the state coffers? Are they willing to learn from Bulgaria’s proven model? If yes, then they should follow Bulgaria’s approach by reducing taxes, simplifying tax codes and axing bureaucracy. The question is, will the government eventually get a grip of reality and pick up the courage to fearlessly serve it to the EU and IMF on a take it or leave it basis?

All self-respecting Greeks, who either live in Greece and/or abroad, need to unite and make a stand to promote this policy by lobbying to their MP’s and other interest groups. We also need to do this now as time is Greece’s number one enemy and a commodity that our nation simply does not have.

Explanation why loan agreement extension will not pass from parliament

The government on Thursday presented to Parliament the document on the reasons why the extension of the loan agreement between Greece and the European Financial Stability Fund does not need to be voted in Parliament. The document was signed by State Minister Nikos Pappas and was submitted to Parliament following former Parliament President Evangelos Meimarakis' question to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. In his written reply, the State Minister said that Greece has no international obligation to pass the agreement from the parliament nor does the Greek law provides for that. He also stated that the Legal Council of State has delivered a relevant opinion on the matter.

More specifically, the State Minister's reply is the following:

    "The new loan agreement has been signed between the Greek government and the partners, let alone an agreement of an extension of the memorandum. On February 26, 2015 the maturity date of the existing loan agreement between Greece and the European Financial Stability Facility / European Support Mechanism (EFSF/ESM) was extended until the end of June this year. The extension of the loan agreement has been signed by all parties. As there is no international requirement of our country, the ESM requires no further ratification process, in addition to Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis' signature. The Greek law likewise does not provide for the ratification of the extension of the loan agreement for the same reason.
     "The signing of the extension of the loan agreement is accompanied by a Finance Minister's document of political initiatives, which was submitted to the Eurogroup and was published. The content of this document does not constitute a contract and there is no reason to be ratified by the Parliament. The Legal Council of State delivered a relevant opinion on February 25, 2015. The new agreement with the partners that will occur after the expiration of the extension of the existing loan agreement will be obviously submitted for ratification to parliament, according to the Constitution.
       Former Parliament President Meimarakis had asked to be informed when the government will brief the Parliament and the Greek people for the content of the agreement signed by the Minister of Finance and "when the agreement for the extension of the memorandum will be submitted for approval in the Parliament."

ANA/MPA

EC calls on Greece to recover state subsidies from Cosco

The European Union has apparently ordered the Greek government to recover state subsidies which were received by Cosco’s subsidiary in Piraeus, since they consider them to be non-compliant with European legislation. The announcement of the decision came a few hours prior to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday and ahead of Vice Premier Yannis Dragasakis’ trip to Beijing, China.

The Commission claims that the tax exemptions and preferential treatment that Cosco’s subsidiarity received conflict with EU competition law. As such, the EC has demanded that a number of main terms and clauses in the contract between the two sides be removed.

The Commission believes that Cosco was exempt from various taxes and received preferential treatment, especially in foreign investments.

(More details should soon be available in the next edition of the Official Journal of the European Union.)

EC spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso told the To Vima newspaper that while the European Commission is planning to delineate the method for recovering the State subsidies, it is up to Greek authorities to establish how much these subsidies amount to, as they alone have the relevant information.

Editor's Note: Call us foolish, but HellasFrappe feels that this is just Brussels' way of hitting China via Greece. The port of Piraeus was not only revamped under the Cosco management, but this investment generated tens of hundreds of jobs for many people in the area. It also made the Greek port one of the busiest and most prominent in all of Europe. The Commission -which we all know tilts towards the Left- should stop protecting the State, and begin supporting the private sector in Greece.

Katseli new chairman of National Bank

A board of directors meeting on Monday appointed Louka Katseli as the new chairman of the National Bank of Greece, replacing George Zanias. Leonidas Frangiadakis was also appointed as the new CEO and is expected to replace Alexandros Tourkolias.

The appointment of Katseli as well as Frangiadakis now needs to be approved by the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism.

The NBG expressed its gratitude to Zanias and Tourkolias for their valuable contribution to National Bank of Greece and its Group, and wished the new management every success in the work it undertakes.

It should be reminded that Mrs. Katseli is an active member of SYRIZA and a former Minister of PASOK under the George Papandreou government.

Is this fatal Friday for Greece? You be the judge

By John Ward (The Slog) - Thanks to Greek journalist Eva Antonopoulou for pointing me at a Reuters piece containing this wonderful example of casting bad guys as good guys, while making a criminal scam look like serious financial discussions:

     “….no more bailout cash until it implements reforms agreed by its previous conservative-led government, and receives a positive report from the “troika” of European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund experts….”

Just to deconstruct this melange of spin and ignorance:

1. The Greeks weren’t the ones who asked for more bailout cash
2. One man’s reforms are another man’s greedy neoliberal demands
3. New governments often get voted in to change the laws of previous governments: it’s called democracy
4. One man’s ‘positive’ is another man’s ‘negative’
5. Defining Troika1 will never allow readers to understand Troika2 – viz, Schauble, Draghi and Lagarde
6. It is hard to apply the word ‘expert’ to a central bank and IMF that have so far been wrong about every economic and fiscal element in the eurozone since 2010.
7. The Commission is no longer influential in the process.

But the pavane-cum-farrago of propaganda trotted out by the Establishment has – sadly – far more power to influence than objective, empirical observation and facts.

On the Syriza side of the negotiating table, it would be good if they stuck to those principles… and grew some balls. Instead, there’s been too much pettiness in the exchanges with Schäuble. Never let your opponent know you’re rattled. But on the other hand, this doesn’t (for me) apply to the War reparations issue.

Few suffered more than the Greeks when the Nazis rolled in during 1941 and raped the country red raw for four long years. Now that the Berlin Bundestag has very honourably ruled that yes, they do have a case to answer, it will be interesting to see how the former DDR Jugendsfuhrer and fridge magnet responds.

It will also be fascinating (but largely futile) to see whether any European Court picks up on my point about the exemption of Greece from QE being illegal. Perhaps it would be better to wait until the Kangaroo Courts start appearing, and then get Draghi up on all six charges of blatant fraud… with 237 previous Italian cases to be taken into account.

More generally, Friday is a favourite day for things to get nasty when all the signals look wobbly and bearish. I have a feeling in my water we might get at least one today.

Troika renamed “Brussels Group” arrive in Athens on Thursday

The representatives from the EU, ECB and IMF (or Troika which is now baptized as the Brussels Group) would arrive in Athens on Thursday, in order to collect macroeconomic and financial data, as confirmed at the first meeting in Brussels.

The Troika (oops... Brussels Group) would also discuss technical matters in the reform policies agreed at the recent Eurogroup meeting as well as task teams with collecting the necessary information from Athens. These technical teams are not going to ministries or other government agencies, as the same representatives had once done (or so the government claims).

The head of the Greek negotiating team will be the general secretary at the Ministry of Finances Nikos Theoharakis, with Finance Minister Varoufakis’ consultant Elena Panariti at his side. The Brussels Group’s main representatives are going to be comprised of the former troika’s Declan Costello (EU), Klaus Masuch (ECB) and Rishi Goyal (IMF) – (Masuch could be replaced by Rasmus Ruffer). Reports in Athens claim that the negotiations will continue based on the agreement of February 20th.

Editor's Note: This whole baptismal word play is actually quite entertaining. SYRIZA and ANEL are certainly talented in public relations. What is even more entertaining is their fanatic supporters who insist that the "Brussels Group" is not the Troika... or that the "Memorandums" are just agreements. Of course they are... (wink wink...) they are only "Memorandums" when the conservatives are in power, but when the Leftists are in power they are agreements... Aspirin please!

Varoufakis: Citizens can now live without the fear of layoffs & overtaxation

In an interview to the Sunday edition of the To Ethnos newspaper,  Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that SYRIZA's commitment on the extension of the loan agreement, with the specific reforms program that was agreed in Brussels, removes and the last legal argument of the Eurozone's institutions that demanded the Greek government's subordination into a 'program' in order "to lift the restrictions from Greece's banking system financial support."

In the interview, Varoufakis pointed out that the two main demands in the agreement for the next four months includes the "safeguarding of a sufficient liquidity in the internal market with immediate lifting of the restrictions imposed by ECB on the short-term banks and state lending as well as the normal flow of tax revenues".

Continuing with SYRIZA's wordplay, Varoufakis said that the Memorandum, (as a text of Troika's strict orders for perpetual austerity, internal devaluation and financial suffocation), does not exist any more.

     "Citizens can live now without the fear of mass layoffs, continuous cutbacks on salaries and pensions and of the irrational, abusive and unfair overtaxation on non- existent incomes or depreciated assets".

He said that "there is not possibility to return to the debt serfdom state" adding that the "relief-solution for the debt that SYRIZA is planning to propose does not want any sacrifices from the Greek or the European tax payers.

ECB has no excuse not to restore liquidity to Greek banks

Turning to other matters, Varoufakis said the European Central Bank has no excuse not to restore liquidity to Greek banks as the government has kept its part of the deal by signing the extension of its loan agreement, according to an interview published in the Greek press on Sunday.

Greek banks are being kept afloat through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) lifeline extended by the Bank of Greece, subject to approval by the ECB. The ELA pool, which currently stands at 68.3 billion euros ($78 billion), is extended to solvent lenders as a temporary measure to cover liquidity shortages. The bank has suspended the eligibility of Greek sovereign debt as collateral for its liquidity operations, since February 11th, saying Greece had not completed its bailout programme.

Varoufakis said that for Greece to enter a safe path, at least in the transitional period of the next four months, it has to ensure the domestic market is sufficiently funded by lifting the limitations imposed by the ECB in the state and the banks' short-term borrowing ability.

"We insist that our commitment to extend the loan agreement with the specific reform programme we agreed upon, removes the final lawful argument presented by the Eurozone's institutions who required us to enter a 'programme' in order to lift limitations in the financial support of our banking system," Varoufakis was quoted as saying to Ethnos daily.

The minister also rejected any notion of signing a third bailout programme, as it has been reported in the media. "There isn't the slightest chance of returning to a status of debt serfdom, no matter how much the opposition tries to sweeten such a possibility," he said.

Reference in Greek - To Ethnos