{"id":4975,"date":"2026-05-11T22:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=4975"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:35:00","slug":"to-the-thousandth-the-dramatic-hours-before-the-collapse-not-even-enough-for-salaries-and-pensions-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=4975","title":{"rendered":"“To the thousandth”: the dramatic hours before the collapse – “Not even enough for salaries and pensions” (video)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the documentary “In the Millionth”<\/b>, the past history of the Greek crisis<\/b>debt<\/b>, the dramatic negotiations<\/b> of 2015 and the fear of default<\/b>.<\/p>\n

With revelations, unknown dialogue and shock testimonies from the Europe’s decision-making centres<\/b>, the second episode of the documentary “In the Millionth” illuminates the most crucial moments of the Greek financial crisis<\/b>, from the collapse of the country’s credibility in 2009 to the government’s dramatic Syriza-ANEL<\/b> in 2015<\/b>, when the possibility of a default, anxiety over wages and pensions and the fear of Greece’s exit<\/b> from the euro were at the heart of developments in Brussels<\/b> and Athens, starring Jean-Claude Juncker, Klaus Regling, Alexis Tsipras and leading officials of the day.<\/p>\n

Painful memories from the period when Greece was one step away from the memorandum in 2009<\/b> and during the Syriza government in 2015<\/b> unfold in the second episode of SKAI’s documentary “In the Millionth”<\/b>. <\/p>\n

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“The game is over “euro<\/h3>\n

The documentary by Eleni Varvitsioti and Viktoria Dendrinou reveals the climate of suspicion and even hostility towards Greece, when it was announced by CBE Governor George Provopoulos and then Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou that the deficit would move above 12%. It was the time when Jean-Claude Juncker declared: “The game is over”.<\/p>\n

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“We were shocked, the size was shocking, it showed that the Greek government was not sincere,” Klaus Regling said, speaking on the show, adding that “from there onwards, confidence is lost.”<\/p>\n

Speaking on the show, Juncker stressed that it was indeed a big mistake for the Greek government to make the partners believe that things were going well as now Greece was not credible and so anyone could say whatever they wanted. He even revealed that a finance minister from another country had suggested at a Eurogroup meeting that the Acropolis should be sold. “I told her to shut up, I told her to shut up!” said Juncker.<\/p>\n

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The first critical days<\/h3>\n

The camera goes into the first, critical days of the SYRIZA-ANEL government in 2015 – at the moment when election promises collide with the harsh reality of public finances. At the State Audit Office, the picture is shocking. The state’s reserves are not sufficient for the obligations that are coming. The country has just EUR 1.6 billion in the treasury and many times more payments ahead. “It was horror,” recalls the then Director General of Budget and Fiscal Policy, Stavroula Miliacou, describing the moment when the possibility of non-payment of salaries and pensions ceases to be a theoretical scenario and becomes an immediate threat.<\/p>\n

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Jean Claude Juncker, when he welcomed new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Brussels, made sure to show what he calls friendliness and that “we were not welcoming an enemy”. He even revealed the dialogue he had with Mr Tsipras when the two of them were together. “He said to me, you know, I was elected with 36% of the vote, which should be taken seriously by our partners”. If I ever had a program like the one you committed to in Greece during the election I would have had 80%, so 36% is rather low.”<\/p>\n

“I had the impression that they were coming like rebels from the barricades”<\/h3>\n
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In the second episode of the documentary “In the Millionth”, the background of the Greek debt crisis is revealed, the dramatic negotiations of 2015…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}