European Union officials in Brussels are irritated by the inconsistency between what Greek politicians have agreed on regarding the reforms and measures required for the bailout program and the campaign rhetoric they use.
According to a real.gr report from Brussels, the European Commission is closely following the election campaign in Greece and many officials are irritated by the fact that no political party assumes responsibility of the bailout program. On the contrary, all parties claim that they will not implement some of the reforms and measures that have already been voted for in Greek Parliament.
“Following the same rhetoric we know since 2010, parties in Greece present fiscal adjustment as something imposed on from abroad for ideological reasons, while at the same parties would like to do something else, i.e. more hirings, wage increases and tax cuts,” says a paragraph of a briefing text written by the national delegation of a Eurozone member country, according to the real.gr report.
Newspaper clippings from Greece show that parties propose equivalents for several of the reforms and measures Greece has agreed on, such as alternatives for supplementary pensions, farmers taxation, or value added tax on private education. Also, the report says, the party leader campaign speeches are translated and placed on the desk of EC President Jean-Claude Juncker every morning.
EC officials say that if the new government that will emerge from the September 20 elections asks to change parts of the program and propose alternatives, the first review of the bailout program will be delayed. This means that disbursement of a 3-billion-euro tranche will be delayed as well.
As for the proposal of equivalents, Brussels say that the reforms and measures of the third bailout program are balanced fairly across the Greek society and no special interest groups, such as farmers, should be given concessions and force other groups to shoulder the burden.
Also, the real.gr report says, several EU officials are saddened by the fact that after six years of austerity and recession, there are still politicians who claim that foreign conspiracies and interest groups are solely responsible for Greece’s economic and social woes.
The European Union, they say, will stop funding Greece if it refuses to change. The public sector is large, expensive and ineffective, entrepreneurship is stifled by bureaucracy and structural constraints (closed markets, trades, etc.), the social security system is not viable. If all that doesn’t change, Greece will be permanently in recession, whether in the euro or the drachma.
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