Greeks asked to stomach more austerity in latest debt deal

July 13: Op-Ed: You do not enter politics to make friends but who could not feel for Greek PM Alexis Tsipras as he took his seat at the latest debt meeting of Eurozone leaders. There he was sat all alone as the other leaders gathered around the table at a safe distance from him.

If that image did not illustrate how isolated Greece has become nothing will.

As the Guardian put it Tsipras faced ‘mental waterboarding’ to accept deal.

Marathon talks into the night resulted in a debt deal but do not hold your breath yet.

Mr Tsipras may feel confident that he can sell the latest debt package to the Greek parliament but selling it to the austerity hammered Greek people will not be easy.

Early indications are that Greeks are not happy about the proposals but will stand by Tsipras.

The irony is that the new debt deal may in some ways be worse than the one rejected in the Greek referendum a week ago. Tsipras encouraged voters to reject that deal so asking them to swallow a worse debt package must be galling.

---

But in the end the EU had Tsipras and Greece over a barrel.

Determined to ensure that Greek people experience tough measures being endured in other EU countries will satisfy creditors, the uber wealthy, big corporations and business but surely we should have all been looking to live up to Greek ideals rather than all sign up for the 'German' way of life?

Yes Monday some Greeks interviewed by the media 'mentioned the war' but can you blame them?

They noted Germany was again imposing its will on Europe but this time fiscally.

Greece, its people and government are still between a rock and a hard place. Will the people accept Germany's tough terms?

We will let you know later this week. Billions will be loaned to Greece but at a huge price if the deal goes forward.

Germans would rather send humanitarian aid than forgive Greece’s debts - is one American view but America is not in Europe at least not officially!

Our view - Remember when Greece helped cancel post war German debt

Images of Lagarde and Merkel, smiling for once, tells one story; Twitter tells another.

The Guardian reports the new debt deal as:

The new measures Greece must now implement

The final Euro Summit statement confirms that Greece has agreed to immediately implement sweeping measures, after a bruising battle in Brussels:

This includes pension reforms, liberalising its economy (from Sunday opening hours to opening up closed professions), privatising its energy transmission network, reforming its labour market practices (including new rules on industrial action, and collective dismissals), and action on non-performing loans:

That is on top of the austerity its MPs agreed on Friday:

Here are the key points:

• carry out ambitious pension reforms and specify policies to fully compensate for the fiscal impact of the Constitutional Court ruling on the 2012 pension reform and to implement the zero deficit clause or mutually agreeable alternative measures by October 2015;
  
• adopt more ambitious product market reforms with a clear timetable for implementation of all OECD toolkit I recommendations, including Sunday trade, sales periods, pharmacy ownership, milk and bakeries, except over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, which will be implemented in a next step, as well as for the opening of macro-critical closed professions (e.g. ferry transportation). On the follow-up of the OECD toolkit-II, manufacturing needs to be included in the prior action;
  
• on energy markets, proceed with the privatisation of the electricity transmission network operator (ADMIE), unless replacement measures can be found that have equivalent effect on competition, as agreed by the Institutions;
  
• on labour markets, undertake rigorous reviews and modernisation of collective bargaining, industrial action and, in line with the relevant EU directive and best practice, collective dismissals, along the timetable and the approach agreed with the Institutions. On the basis of these reviews, labour market policies should be aligned with international and European best practices, and should not involve a return to past policy settings which are not compatible with the goals of promoting sustainable and inclusive growth;
  
• adopt the necessary steps to strengthen the financial sector, including decisive action on non-performing loans and measures to strengthen governance of the HFSF and the banks, in particular by eliminating any possibility for political interference especially in appointment processes.

And on top of that, Greece will also establish a new fund to sell off valuable assets to help repay its new bailout, and refinance its banks.

Was the referendum necessary? Are the tougher measures meant as 'a bashing' for Tsipras for not falling into line immediately?

Is Brussels now dictating a new watered down form of democracy and demonising left-wing politics?

In an earlier report we wrote "In 2012 the Guardian reported "Christine Lagarde, the IMF boss who caused international outrage after she suggested in an interview with the Guardian on Friday that beleaguered Greeks might do well to pay their taxes, pays no taxes, it has emerged.  As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes."

Presumably that remains the case; more EU hypocrisy.

The fat cats riding the gravy train in the EU are quick to spin Greek debt and gloss over such facts.

But people are not so blind these days.

6 days ago we wrote a brief opinion piece inspired by an image posted on Facebook. We wrote "This opinion piece about the Greek debt crisis was inspired by the attached image which shows Greek Ministers in the 1950's joining others to sign away German debt following the Second World War caused by that country." That report has received a great deal of attention and many visits."

People are on the side of Greece.

Read: #ThisIsACoup is trending on Twitter after the Greek debt deal