Everything suggests that for Alexis Tsipras the path to the future will be a continuous and suffocating plunge into the past.
A past that seems to haunt not only the Greek people, but also himself, continually leading his footsteps to the scene of the crime.
Most notably, what has been heard, said, and written at times about the famous “transaction” regarding the exchange of the syntaxes with the signing of the Prespes Agreement.
In his letter to journalists Eleni Varvitsioti and Victoria Dendrinou, he explained his refusal to participate in the documentary of SKAI “In the Millionth”, arguing that he does not wish by his participation to legitimize the “unprecedented attempted character assassination” against him through their book , “The Last Bluff”.
This is because in the book “without any real evidence you falsely accused me that as prime minister of the country I ‘traded’ in a sordid transaction with the then president of Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, the resolution of a critical national issue, the Macedonian issue, with no pension cuts.”
The two journalists replied that in none of the 399 pages of their book “is there any connection – either direct or indirect – between the signing of the Prespa Agreement and no pension cuts.”
What he told the Financial Times
Only Tsipras himself has told the Financial Times (20/5/2019) about his meeting with “Go back madame Merkel” on 23 March in Berlin. He said specifically: “Gruevski did not want to negotiate. I remember going to Berlin. I met Chancellor Merkel and we discussed at length the financial crisis, the debt, the deficits, the memoranda, etc. We also decided to talk about foreign policy and I told her “I want to solve this problem, even with Gruevski. I will try to challenge him by asking him to sit at the table. If he does not want to, I will accuse him (ed: that he does not want a settlement)”. He replied: “I don’t believe you.” I asked her why and she said: “Because all your predecessors did not want to open this issue, especially Samaras”. “My opinion is different,”I said. “My opinion is that Greece will only benefit if we manage to solve the differences with our northern neighbours. Greece has enough differences with its neighbours to the east – we don’t want more problems with our northern neighbours, especially the countries that I believe do not threaten Greece.” I don’t think Angela Merkel believed me, but I proved that I meant what I said when the developments in Skopje showed that there was an opportunity.”
This was preceded on 15 July 2014, by Mrs Merkel’s attendance as an official guest at the annual meeting of leaders of Southeast Europe in Dubrovnik, Croatia. There, Ms Merkel had stated that “Macedonia must become a member of the EU and NATO”. And that “the unresolved name and identity problem between Macedonia and Greece is a burden for all of us”. So Mr Tsipras knew how much she was interested and that a statement in favour of the “solution” would influence her positively.
There could be no evidence of a transaction and Mr Tsipras knows this very well. Otherwise, under international law, the deal would be invalidated. But, as he said in his letter to reporters, “history is stubborn.” And indeed it is. Because history is written with facts.
The European Commission report
So while in 2012-2014 the lenders were not letting us breathe and nothing was enough for them and they behaved in a stingy manner, after 2017 the Commission reports spoke for themselves, in an ideotypical Scottish shower that had nothing to do with the real facts.
So, in January 2018 – when the Skopje “settlement” discussion was in its infancy – the Compliance Report, the updated text of the memorandum and the technical text of the agreement (which were released by the European Commission) included 88 new preconditions, which had to be completed by June. Among them, and the “recalculation” of pensions. So in January 2018, the pension cut was one of the preconditions.
But in May, things changed! On 3 May 2018, in the Commission’s spring forecasts, good words abounded. Suddenly Greece was on the “right track”. On 20 June 2018, three days after the signing of the Prespes Agreement, although none of the January pre-conditions had been completed, the troika’s compliance report confirmed the… full completion of all the pre-conditions of the fourth review!
In July 2018, everything became rosy!
On 12 July 2018, the European Commission’s report with the interim economic forecasts for 2018-2019 was published. And, miraculously, we were informed that the Greek economy will continue to recover in the coming years. On 20 August 2018, with the supposed exit from the memoranda, the lenders were celebrating with Tsipras.
In its “exit” statement, the Commission said that the Greek financial sector is now in a… much stronger position,the efficiency of public administration has improved, there are tangible benefits from restoring order in public finances, and they saw a reduction in unemployment and… a return to growth.
And the finance commissioner, Socialist Pierre Moscovici, was saying that commitments must be kept, but they are not… inflexible and that…he was exchanging messages with Tsipras every week!
On 20 October 2018, the day the neighbouring country’s parliament approved the Prespes Agreement, the Commission approved the Greek budget without cuts in pensions! With Tsipras celebrating both: “The way is paving the way for the implementation of a historic agreement with our neighbours that opens a perspective of prosperity and peace in the region, but also because the European Commission approved the budget without cuts in pensions, after eight years of austerity, which opens the way for more optimistic days for the Greek people.”
In November 2018… we were spared!
In November 2018, the Commission’s first report under “enhanced surveillance” – with the Prespa Agreement signed, but not yet voted on – said that the Greek draft budget for 2019 – without the pension cut – ensured the primary surplus target of 3,5% of GDP, that “not implementing the pension cut measure does not compromise the sustainability of the social security system”, and that “the pension cut would affect 1.4 million people in the EU”.
Merkel also found everything perfect during her visit to Athens on 11 January 2019, a few days before the Prespes Agreement was voted on the 25th.
When they suddenly went wild again
On 27 February 2019, after the Prespes vote – while they had been watching and silent all 2018 – they were back to their old selves, with the Commission recalling that “Greece is entering a regime of excessive imbalances. And took off the hat nine new post-monetary preconditions to be implemented in 2019, resuming the demands. They were the same ones who in August 2018 claimed that “banks are in a much stronger position”…
In the latest report (5/6/2019), the troika goes wild again and discovers that the VAT cut on food, widow’s pensions and the Tsipras election bonus are “a source of concern”!
They even recall the recruitment of the previous two years and demand 1,550 public sector redundancies and that the preconditions (which in June 2018, just before the Prespes Agreement, they said had been fulfilled) had not been completed, spinning dozens of observations and delays.
So long, Moscovici has been coming and going to Greece and seeing… nothing! “Congratulations to Tsipras and the Greek authorities for fulfilling their commitments. Greece will write the next chapter. The Commission will continue to support its economic growth,” he tweeted on 3 July 2018. This is the same man who postponed his visit to Greece until the Troika returned on 9 December 2014!
Moscovici is also happy!
But he was happy to visit us on 16/1/2019 to tell us that it is well known that the Commission welcomes the fact that there is an agreement on the name issue, using the term “Macedonia”.
This was preceded (12/12/2018) by Moscovici’s statement in which he… welcomed the final repeal of the pension cuts measure after the vote in parliament, saying it was unlikely: “The Commission never considered that these additional cuts were needed.” But not only had it “considered”, it had demanded pre-approval!
On November 25, speaking to Real News, after revealing that “the measure (ed.pension cuts) was put on the table in Malta in April 2017”, he went so far as to say that “the Commission does not play political games” and that “I am sick of these political jokes of those who try to tell us that the Commission is not objective”.
The clash in Parliament
The debate on the Prespa Agreement took place on 11 December 2018. There, all the reports linking the two issues, namely pensions and Prespes, had been reported – and even by Mr Tsipras himself, talking about “yellow press”, in a previous (and quite guilty) attack on Mr Mitsotakis.
As for Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in that debate, he had referred exactly to what everyone was discussing. Among other things, he had said: “With audacity, with audacity indeed, Mr Tsipras, you are still proclaiming today that you will not cut pensions any further, when you signed and voted for their reduction.You signed the pension reduction, not us, Mr Tsipras. You’re a bit confused. I will have to enlighten you on what actually happened in this room. In fact, you have previously cut all new pensions and sawed off all the old ones. So you will get today the real bill with which you have charged the Greek citizen for the last four years. Because with cynicism you have set up a distraction to the national wound of Skopje”.
The facts are indeed stubborn…
