organization:greek government

European Court Condemns Greece’s Migrant Kid Lockups

Fresh Ruling Calls for End to Harmful Detention of Lone Migrant Children.
This week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled for the second time in four months against Greece’s abusive practice of locking up unaccompanied migrant and asylum-seeking children in police cells under the so-called “protective custody” regime.

The problem seems to be getting worse. As of May 31, 123 unaccompanied children were still detained in police station cells or immigrant detention centers across the country. That’s 43 more kids than were being detained at the end of March, just as the court first ruled against the practice.

Human Rights Watch has found that detained children are forced to live in unsanitary conditions, often alongside adults they do not know, and can be abused and ill-treated by police. Detention can also have serious long-term impacts, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, memory loss, and harm to children’s development.

To make things worse, because they are in detention, these kids – who may have suffered horrific experiences while escaping from war zones – are often unable to receive medical treatment, psychological counselling, or legal aid. Few even know why they’re detained or how long they will be behind bars.

The latest ruling concerns five unaccompanied children from Afghanistan, aged between 14 and 17, who first applied to the European Court in 2016. The court ruled that the detention in police stations of three of the children violated their right to liberty, and that conditions there exposed them to degrading treatment. The court also held that the authorities had not done all that could reasonably be expected of them to provide for and protect four of the children, who had lived for a month in the makeshift Idomeni refugee camp in an environment unsuitable for adolescents.

The Greek government should respond to the ruling by immediately transferring all kids now in police custody to open and safe accommodation. Greece should also work to increase its shelter capacity, find alternatives to detention, and implement a comprehensive foster family system introduced in 2018, which would also benefit Greek children.

Unaccompanied kids in Greece should not have to spend another day locked up in filthy police cells.

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/styles/946w/public/multimedia_images_2016/2016-08-eca-greece-main.jpg?itok=DzCULCv-#.jpg

#CEDH #condamnation #Grèce #enfants #enfance #réfugiés #migrations #asile #rétention #détention_administrative #MNA #mineurs_non_accompagnés

Greece bids for role in Israeli settler railway
Adri Nieuwhof | 18 April 2019 | The Electronic Intifada
▻https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/greece-bids-role-israeli-settler-railway

https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2019-04/sfphotos923325.jpg?itok=S_-NJz7v×tamp=1555610464

Encouraged by the Greek government, state-owned public transport firm STASY is bidding for a role in the Jerusalem light rail, which links Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

This would make the firms – and the Greek state – complicit in Israel’s illegal colonization.

Greek and Israeli transport ministers signed an agreement to cooperate in transport sectors in 2017.

This came after a summit between the leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus aimed at drawing the countries closer together.

Lawmakers in Greece’s nominally left-wing ruling party Syriza are demanding to know why the government is supporting a Greek role in Israel’s colonial expansion.

Metro workers union SELMA has also denounced STASY for its plan to bid for a role in the construction, operation and maintenance of the Israeli project.

The light rail’s Green Line, which the Greek firm wants to be involved in, begins and ends in the occupied West Bank, SELMA stated last month. “This means that the Greek companies are directly engaged in supporting illegal Israeli settlements.”

The union added that it is “completely against the participation in any illegal business activity of STASY, especially when it is about the violation of human rights and the just struggle of a people about its national existence and independence.”

The union noted that the companies participating in the project face being included in the database mandated by the UN Human Rights Council of firms doing business in or with Israeli settlements in occupied territory.

This could have “legal and judicial consequences,” the union warned. (...)

Greece plans to phase out cash and housing for recognized refugees

The Greek government has announced it will start asking people with refugee status or subsidiary protection to leave camps and UNHCR accommodation, starting with people who got their status before August 2017. Eventually, it will also end their access to cash assistance, Refugee.Info has learned.

Gradually, authorities will ask all people who have had refugee status or subsidiary protection for more than 6 months to leave camps and UNHCR accommodation, and gradually it will stop providing them with cash assistance, the Greek Ministry of Migration Policy said.

Why did the government make this new policy?

The Greek government says it is not creating a new policy, just enforcing an existing policy. Under the policy, people lose access to camps and #UNHCR accommodation and cash 6 months after they get refugee status or subsidiary protection.

That policy was made to meet the requirements of the European Union, which funds both the cash program and the UNHCR accommodation scheme. Under the European Union’s rules, cash and accommodation are meant for asylum-seekers — people who don’t yet have a decision on their asylum application.

Up to now the government hasn’t enforced the 6-months policy strictly, recognizing that for many refugees in Greece, it is very difficult to find a place to stay and a way to support themselves financially.

Why now?

Now, the Greek government says it has to enforce the policy because:

– Greece is still facing high numbers of new arrivals.
– The islands are overcrowded.
– There are not enough places in camps and UNHCR accommodation to meet the needs of asylum-seekers.

The decision came from the Greek Directorate for the Protection of Asylum Seekers, the General Secretariat for Migration Policy and the Ministry of Migration Policy.

▻https://blog.refugee.info/exit-accommodation-cash
#Grèce #réfugiés #asile #migrations #hébergement #logement #HCR #vulnérabilité #demandeurs_d'asile #hotspots #îles

#Until_when_Europe ?

CEAR and the Greek Council for Refugees denounce through this video the inaction of European authorities on the situation of thousands of refugees, many of who face a third winter in tents and precarious accommodation in Greece, Until when Europe? This is what the more than 14,000 refugees who continue to be trapped on the islands in inhumane conditions are wondering. “We live in a small tent and the baby is very cold”, “If I was not sick and so tired, I would wait quietly. But I’m sick, very sick, and I can not wait”. These are some of the testimonies of the thousands of refugees who remain trapped in the islands, waiting for a response from Europe.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PG3EfwzRMY

EU steps up planning for refugee exodus if Assad attacks #Idlib

Thousands to be moved from Greek island camps to make space in case of mass arrivals.

Children walk past the remains of burned-out tents after an outbreak of violence at the Moria migrant centre on Lesbos. Aid groups say conditions at the camps on Greek islands are ’shameful’ © Reuters

Michael Peel in Brussels September 14, 2018

Thousands of migrants will be moved from Greek island camps within weeks to ease chronic overcrowding and make space if Syrians flee from an assault on rebel-held Idlib province, under plans being discussed by Brussels and Athens.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s migration commissioner, is due to meet senior Greek officials next week including Alexis Tsipras, prime minister, to hammer out a plan to move an initial 3,000 people.

The proposal is primarily aimed at dealing with what 19 non-governmental groups on Thursday branded “shameful” conditions at the island migrant centres. The strategy also dovetails with contingency planning in case Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed regime launches a full-scale offensive to retake Idlib and triggers an exodus of refugees to Greece via Turkey.

The numbers in the planned first Greek migrant transfer would go only partway to easing the island overcrowding — and they are just a small fraction of the several million people estimated to be gathered in the Syrian opposition enclave on the Turkish border.

“It’s important to get those numbers down,” said one EU diplomat of the Greek island camps. “If we have mass arrivals in Greece, it’s going to be very tough. There is no spare capacity.”

Syria’s Idlib awaits major assault The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this week that 30,000 people had been displaced from their homes by air and ground attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies in the Idlib area, while a full assault could drive out 800,000.

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, this week warned that the “impending humanitarian disaster” in Idlib must be a “deep and direct concern to us all”.

17,000 Number of migrants crammed into camps designed for 6,000 The European Commission wants to help Athens accelerate an existing programme to send migrants to the Greek mainland and provide accommodation there to ease the island overcrowding, EU diplomats say.

The commission said it was working with the Greeks to move 3,000 “vulnerable” people whom Athens has made eligible for transfer, in many cases because they have already applied for asylum and are awaiting the results of their claims.

Migrant numbers in the island camps have climbed this year, in part because of the time taken to process asylum cases. More than 17,000 are crammed into facilities with capacity of barely 6,000, the NGOs said on Thursday, adding that Moria camp on the island of Lesbos was awash with raw sewage and reports of sexual violence and abuse.

“It is nothing short of shameful that people are expected to endure such horrific conditions on European soil,” the NGOs said in a statement.

Mr Avramopoulos, the EU migration commissioner, told reporters on Thursday he knew there were “problems right now, especially in the camp of Moria”. The commission was doing “everything in our power” to support the Greek authorities operationally and financially, he added.

Recommended The FT View The editorial board The high price of Syria’s next disaster “Money is not an issue,” he said. “Greece has had and will continue having all the financial support to address the migration challenges.

” The Greek government has already transferred some asylum seekers to the mainland. It has urged the EU to give it more funds and support.

EU diplomats say the effect of the Idlib conflict on the Greek situation is hard to judge. One uncertainty is whether Ankara would open its frontier to allow people to escape. Even if civilians do cross the border, it is not certain that they would try to move on to the EU: Turkey already hosts more than 3.5m Syrian refugees.

The EU secured a 2016 deal with Turkey under which Brussels agreed to pay €6bn in exchange for Ankara taking back migrants who cross from its territory to the Greek islands. The agreement has helped drive a sharp fall in Mediterranean migrant arrival numbers to a fraction of their 2015-16 highs.

▻https://www.ft.com/content/0aada630-b77a-11e8-bbc3-ccd7de085ffe
#Syrie #réfugiés_syriens #asile #migrations #Grèce #guerre #réfugiés_syriens #Moria #vide #plein #géographie_du_vide #géographie_du_plein (on vide le camp pour être prêt à le remplir au cas où...) #politique_migratoire
cc @reka

Overcrowded Greek refugee camps ill-prepared for winter: UNHCR

Greece must speed up winter preparations at refugee camps on islands in the Aegean Sea where there has been a sharp rise in arrivals, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/916257359340756992/0Agl6cH3?format=jpg&name=600x314#.jpg

#Grèce #hiver (again!) #asile #migrations #réfugiés #îles #camps_de_réfugiés

Greek police continues to illegally hand over Turkish asylum seekers to Turkey

On 2 June at 9am, a family of six, including an infant, and three men who wished to apply for international protection in Greece because of persecution in Turkey were handed over by Greek police to a group of masked gunmen. The refoulement was witnessed and the HLHR has in its disposal the license plate numbers of the Greek police van that transferred the asylum seekers. The new refoulement took place in #Evros by boat, near Didymoteicho, and involved Mustafa Can, his wife and their four children, as well as Yılmaz Erdoğan, Fethullah Çatal, and one more man, whose name is still not known.

▻https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/migrants-rights/greek-police-continues-to-illegally-hand-over-turkish-asylum-seekers

#push-back #refoulement #Turquie #Grèce #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Didimoticho
cc @i_s_

#Anarchists attack the riot police outside the greek parliament (#Athens, Greece – 17 May 2017)

“We won’t live like slaves - The only lost battles are the ones that they have not been given”.

On Wednesday 17 May 2017 thousands of people joined the general #strike #protests all over Greece, against the new harsh financial measures of 4.9 billion euros incorporated in the 4th Memorandum signed by the greek government, aimed once again against the lower income classes rather, than the #banks and the wealthy.

The self proclaimed left government of #SYRIZA in co-operation with the right wing party of ANEL have unleashed a new class war, this time specifically aimed against people with disability and pensioners that have worked all their lives and paid their share under the false notion -as it seems- that during the time when they will be most vulnerable, they would have free public health services and subsidies that would help them get by. On the contrary after 23(!) severe cuts in pensions and allowances during the 8 years of the financial crisis in #Greece (amounting to more than 50 billion euros in pension and allowances cuts during the last 7 years), that has forced people to live like beggars, a further 18% cut will be imposed on pensions under the 4th #Memorandum being voted in the greek parliament these days and a “freezing” of even the slightest raise in pensions until 2022.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=193&v=XjuvJ6in9kk

#athènes #grèce #gauche #austérité #dette

Greece paying asylum seekers to reject appeals

The Greek government is giving cash incentives for rejected asylum seekers on the islands to forgo their legal rights to appeal their cases.

Some €1,000 and free plane tickets home are now part of a largely EU-financed package to send them packing as quickly as possible.

“This is quite complicated and quite immoral,” a Greek lawyer working for Save the Children, an international NGO, told EUobserver on Tuesday (2 May).

The move is part of a larger effort to return people to Turkey and free up administrative bottlenecks, but the plan has generated criticism from human rights defenders who say asylum seekers are being pushed into taking the money.

People have five days to decide whether to take the cash, with reports emerging that even that short delay was not being respected by authorities. Previously, people were entitled to the assistance even if they appealed.

▻https://euobserver.com/migration/137762
#asile #migrations #réfugiés #money #argent #Grèce #expulsions #renvois #Turquie #hotspots #Chios, #Kos, #Leros, #Lesvos, and #Samos_islands #îles_samos #Lesbos #accord_UE-Turquie #recours #droit_d'asile #IOM #OIM #it_has_begun

@i_s_

HRW | UE : Garantir que les aides parviennent aux réfugiés en situation de handicap
▻https://asile.ch/2017/04/04/hrw-ue-garantir-aides-parviennent-aux-refugies-situation-de-handicap

https://asile.ch/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/HRW_renforcer-aide-refugies-handicapes.png

Le Parlement européen devrait améliorer le suivi des fonds d’aide destinés aux réfugiés.

Italy and Germany step up measures to deter asylum seekers

Those who thought Europe’s refugee “crisis” was over were reminded this week that tens of thousands of refugees remain stranded in Greece and the Balkans. Images of refugee tents shrouded in snow on the Greek islands have sparked outrage about the lack of adequate shelter, and scorn has been poured on the Greek government for keeping refugees in such miserable conditions. But others have pointed out that the real culprits are EU and member state policies that have closed borders and shrugged off responsibility for a more equitable distribution of the refugees arriving on Europe’s southern shores.

▻http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/01/13/italy-and-germany-step-measures-deter-asylum-seekers
#Allemagne #Italie #asile #migrations #réfugiés #politique_migratoire #Libye #externalisation #détention_administrative #rétention #expulsions #renvois

Keep City Plaza Open

City Plaza is a refugee accommodation and solidarity space in the heart of Athens, Greece.

Following the closure of the borders when the EU trapped almost 65,000 refugees in Greece, the Greek government created more than 49 detention centers, hotspots and camps. City Plaza offers a safe and dignified alternative to these places where the conditions are wretched, unclean and inhumane.
On the 22nd of April 2016 refugees, volunteers and solidarity activists occupied City Plaza Hotel which had been closed for 7 years.
126 rooms on 7 floors. A reception, bar, dining room, kitchen, storage, play ground, health care center, roof terrace, classroom and library.
CIty Plaza is supported exclusively through political solidarity and individual donations.

400 people live together at City Plaza.
The numbers: More than 100 families 165 children, 100 men, 115 women, 35 locals, activists and volunteers.
Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan & Gambia

Self-organisation is at the heart of City Plaza.
The philosophy: We live together. We work together. We struggle together.
The foundations of the day to day running of City Plaza lie in solidarity and collective participation. Refugees, locals, activists and volunteers work together in this way.

Your donation will go towards the essential working groups of City Plaza
Kitchen
– 3 meals a day for all, that’s 1,200 meals a day
Health Care Center
– Daily appointments with doctors and nurses & coordination with public hospitals, working to resolve refugee-specific health care services
Storage space and distribution of supplies for basic needs
– Everyday the people of City Plaza are given supplies to provide for basic needs (toiletries, washing powder, supplies for babies etc) but supplies are currently low.
Maintenance of the building
– A team of volunteers working for maintenance. City Plaza has not yet had enough funding to provide heating for the building.
Language Classes
– Greek for children, English for adults and children, German for adults and children

▻https://www.youcaring.com/refugeeaccommodationandsolidarityspacecityplaza-716186

A UN flowchart for refugees reveals how ridiculously complicated it is to apply to asylum

Two months after Europe’s agreement with Turkey went into effect, Greece has finally shared the rules for asylum-seekers already in Greece to apply for refugee status. The process, explained in a handout distributed by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as the Greek government, adds a new step to the current system: pre-registration, which allows asylum-seekers to live in Greece until their application has been processed.

▻https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/screen-shot-2016-06-02-at-12_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&
▻http://qz.com/697971/a-un-flowchart-for-refugees-reveals-how-ridiculously-complicated-it-is-to-apply-
#Grèce #procédure_d'asile #réfugiés #asile #migrations #complexité

Refugees in Greece refuse to relocate across EU

Asylum seekers fear transfer far away from family and friends

One in seven asylum seekers in the EU’s flagship scheme to relocate refugees throughout the bloc has either refused to be moved or “absconded”, according to figures provided by the Greek government.
The policy, agreed last year after considerable acrimony, was designed to spread more evenly the EU’s refugee burden by relocating 160,000 asylum seekers from frontline states Greece and Italy to other members of the bloc.

But it is being challenged by many asylum seekers’ refusal to go to poorer member states, such as Bulgaria and Romania.
Of the 1,324 people processed as part of the relocation scheme so far, 191 have dropped out or simply disappeared, say Greek officials.

As of last week, Bulgaria had agreed to accept 47 asylum seekers from Greece. But when they were told they were being sent there, 36 withdrew from the programme while another seven “absconded”, according to the Greek government. In the end, only four were moved.

The situation was similar in Romania, where 32 of the 67 asylum seekers destined to be sent there disappeared or quit the relocation programme. In the case of Estonia, eight out of 27 people absconded rather than be sent to the Baltic state.

Even those being sent to rich, diverse countries such as France have opted out of the scheme. Out of 388 asylum seekers due to be sent to France from Greece, 24 absconded while two others dropped out.

Fotini Rantsiou, a former UN staffer working as a consultant on refugee issues, blamed the high dropout rate on asylum seekers’ fears that they will be allocated a country far removed from friends and family.

“As the process drags on, some people get discouraged,” said Ms Rantsiou. “They feel they won’t get to where their relatives are, so they drop out altogether.”

Anastasia Mavrou, a social worker and volunteer at a tent camp near Athens, said it was common for officials to lose track of asylum seekers. “There’s a lot of mobility among the refugees,” she said. “They switch addresses and mobile phone numbers quite often so can’t be reached by the asylum agency.”

Greek and European officials face a backlog of 46,000 asylum seekers and migrants who are stuck on the country’s mainland. Macedonia shut its border with Greece earlier this spring, leaving tens of thousands stranded in worsening conditions within the country.
Although Greek officials had put forward 3,126 for relocation, other EU countries that signed off the deal had agreed to accept just 1,791 as of last week.

“Even in the best of circumstances — manageable flows, low political salience, time for governments to prepare, pilot and adjust — relocation would still perhaps take years to develop as a viable means of distribution,” said Elizabeth Collett, director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe.

“Implemented on the hoof in the midst of political battle, with limited, diverted attention from the Greek government, and unprepared recipient states, these low numbers are disappointing but not particularly surprising.”

The sealed land border and the sluggish progress on relocation has led to a brewing humanitarian crisis in the country.

Despite the Greek government agreeing, in conjunction with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, to set up accommodation for 50,000 refugees by the end of 2015, Greece is still suffering from a shortfall in accommodation. At the moment, the country has shelter for barely 35,000 migrants on its mainland.

▻https://next.ft.com/content/826f1bf2-1b75-11e6-b286-cddde55ca122#axzz48tUXxGev
#résistance #relocalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #refus

Parce que les personnes ne sont pas des paquets...

EU Detains 29 Volunteers for Working with Refugees in Greece | Revolution News
▻https://revolution-news.com/eu-detains-29-volunteers-for-working-with-refugees-in-greece

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After clashes which started when Macedonian (FYROM) police and soldiers stopped refugees from crossing the Greek/Macedonian (FYROM) border on Sunday, some of the mainstream media are blaming activists who support refugees in Idomeni for inciting refugee protests.

It seems that some of the media don’t believe that refugees are people like you and me, and capable of making their own decisions. In the last 2 days Greek anti-terror units have detained an estimated 45 people (29 today) from several European countries in Idomeni, many of them volunteers from the “Aid Delivery Mission”. The “Aid Delivery Mission” cooks thousands of warm meals each day for refugees who are still stuck in Idomeni.
Not only the Greek government, but also the European Union (EU), are embarrassed because activists and volunteers from all over Europe are doing work that they should be doing – supplying refugees with basic needs like food, sanitary products, and medical help.

Migrant crisis : Greece starts deportations to Turkey

The first boats carrying migrants being deported from Greece to Turkey have departed under an EU plan aimed at easing mass migration to Europe.

▻http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35956836
#asile #migrations #réfugiés #renvoi #expulsion #refoulement #Grèce #Turquie #accord

New law to include #detention regime in #hotspots

The Greek Government intends to introduce a new detention regime in the ‘hotspots’ as part of legislative reforms of the country’s first reception framework. The Greek Parliament aims to fast-track the adoption of the law before the end of this month.

▻http://ecre.org/component/content/article/70-weekly-bulletin-articles/1379-new-greek-law-to-include-detention-regime-in-hotspots.html
#hotspot #Grèce #détention_administrative #rétention #asile #migrations #réfugiés

Tsipras under pressure to tear down Turkish border fence

The Greek government is facing increasing pressure to take down a fence along its land border with Turkey, and stop refugees from making the deadly journey to Europe via the Mediterranean. EurActiv Greece reports.

▻http://www.euractiv.com/sections/global-europe/tsipras-under-pressure-tear-downturkish-border-fence-319103
#Grèce #mur #asile #réfugiés #migrations #barrières_frontalières
cc @daphne @marty @albertocampiphoto

Grèce : la réforme des expulsions hypothécaire n’est pas assez méchante, l’UE menace de ne pas verser les montants promis pour octobre.

Greece’s Bailout Deal with Europe Is Starting to Show Cracks | Foreign Policy
▻http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/27/greeces-bailout-deal-with-europe-is-starting-to-show-cracks

The European Union’s agreement to provide Greece with the 86 billion euros, or $95 billion, bailout that Athens needs to stay solvent is beginning to show signs of strain, with creditors threatening to delay an October payment as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struggles to implement promised austerity reforms.

On Monday, Valdis Dombrovskis, a senior European Commission official charged with assessing how well Greece is abiding by its August commitments, said that the EU and Greece still disagree on how to toughen foreclosure laws. Right now, an estimated 320,000 Greeks are in arrears, or behind in their home loan payments. This represents about 40 percent of all Greek home loans.

Tsipras’ government wants cover for borrowers with homes worth up to 300,000 euros, or $331,185, and who earn up to 35,000 euros, or $38,638 per year. That would account for about 75 percent of the loans now in arrears. According to the leftist Greek government, the EU’s counterproposal — protection for homes worth up to just 120,000 euros, or $132,474 — would leave 80 percent of the Greek borrowers who are behind on home payments at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.

What’s the U.S. Role In the Greek Crisis?
CEPR Economist Mark Weisbrot discusses the role of the U.S.-dominated institutions in the current crisis in Greece. - July 22, 2015
▻http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=14312

WEISBROT: Well, the U.S. government, the Obama administration, its main concern is really they don’t want to see Greece leave the Eurozone. And they’re looking at it kind of from an empire point of view, that if Greece leaves the Eurozone the Eurozone could be weaker, it could disintegrate. The whole process could weaken European unity. In worst-case scenarios Greece could leave NATO, Greece could end up borrowing from Russia. So these are the way, this is the way it’s looking at it.

That puts them a little differently from Europe. Europe is a little more divided. They don’t want Greece to leave the Eurozone either. They want to get—their strategy is really to get rid of the current Greek government, the Syriza government, and force them out. And the U.S. is okay with that, but they were more worried about them forcing them possibly out of the Eurozone altogether.

One place where this shows up is through the IMF, because the U.S. dominates the IMF. Now, they don’t usually use all their muscle at the IMF to go against Europe. They would normally let the Europeans decide what happens in Europe. But in this case there was a board meeting before the referendum in Greece on July 5 where the U.S. got the IMF [board] against the wishes of Germany especially, to release a study that the IMF had done showing that Greece’s debt was not sustainable, that there had to be debt relief. And that really angered the Germans and their allies, because this kind of helped Syriza in their referendum on July 5 because Syriza, the government which was pushing for a no vote to reject the last offer that the European authorities had given them, the government was able to cite that study and say look, we need debt relief. This is an unsustainable debt, vote no. And so that was a real point of friction between the U.S. and Germany, and there’s a case where the U.S. used its muscle in the IMF to get that report released before the referendum, and it could have had an influence.

Now, the problem is that this doesn’t really do Greece or the world any good because it’s nice that they want debt relief. But the IMF is still signed on to a program in Greece that will not allow the economy to recover, and the debt relief isn’t going to help that at all.

[...]

So it’s really about power, and using that power, on behalf of the European authorities using that power to change Greece and change Europe into societies that have a smaller social safety net, reduced pensions, healthcare spending, weaker labor movements, more inequality. More like the United States, actually. That’s the kind of transformation they were trying to make in Europe. And they’ve been using the debt crisis and associated vulnerabilities of the more vulnerable European countries to force those changes there. Not only Greece but Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and even in the whole Eurozone as a whole, that is their vision. That’s what they are trying to do.

The problem of Greece is not only a tragedy. It is a lie.
►http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-problem-of-greece-is-not-only-a-tragedy-it-is-a-lie

In their travels to the court of the mighty in Brussels and Berlin, Tsipras and Varoufakis presented themselves neither as radicals nor “leftists” nor even honest social democrats, but as two slightly upstart supplicants in their pleas and demands. Without underestimating the hostility they faced, it is fair to say they displayed no political courage. More than once, the Greek people found out about their “secret austerity plans” in leaks to the media: such as a 30 June letter published in the Financial Times, in which Tsipras promised the heads of the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF to accept their basic, most vicious demands - which he has now accepted.

When the Greek electorate voted “no” on 5 July to this very kind of rotten deal, Tsipras said, “Come Monday and the Greek government will be at the negotiating table after the referendum with better terms for the Greek people”. Greeks had not voted for “better terms”. They had voted for justice and for sovereignty, as they had done on January 25.

The day after the January election a truly democratic and, yes, radical government would have stopped every euro leaving the country, repudiated the “illegal and odious” debt - as Argentina did successfully - and expedited a plan to leave the crippling Eurozone. But there was no plan. There was only a willingness to be “at the table” seeking “better terms”.

The true nature of Syriza has been seldom examined and explained. To the foreign media it is no more than “leftist” or “far left” or “hardline” - the usual misleading spray. Some of Syriza’s international supporters have reached, at times, levels of cheer leading reminiscent of the rise of Barack Obama. Few have asked: Who are these “radicals”? What do they believe in?

Grexit Would Have Disastrous And Far-Reaching Consequences - SPIEGEL ONLINE
▻http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/grexit-would-have-disastrous-and-far-reaching-consequences-a-1043159.html

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Anyone who opposes the prospect of a Grexit can feel a little lonely in Germany these days. Indignation over the Greek government is widespread and the seemingly endless rounds of debt talks have left the public drained. A Grexit seems to promise release and is looking increasingly appealing to many.

Greece debt crisis: Athens accepts harsh austerity as bailout deal nears | Business | The Guardian | Thursday 9 July 2015 19.39 BST
▻http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/09/greece-debt-crisis-athens-accepts-harsh-austerity-as-bailout-deal-nears

The Greek government capitulated on Thursday to demands from its creditors for severe austerity measures in return for a modest debt write-off, raising hopes that a rescue deal could be signed at an emergency meeting of EU leaders on Sunday.

Athens is understood to have put forward a package of reforms and public spending cuts worth €13bn (£9.3bn) to secure a third bailout from creditors that could raise $50bn and allow it to stay inside the currency union.

A cabinet meeting signed off the reform package after ministers agreed that the dire state of the economy and the debilitating closure of the country’s banks meant it had no option but to agree to almost all the creditors terms.

Parliament is expected to endorse the package after a frantic few days of negotiation that followed a landmark referendum last Sunday in which Greek voters backed the radical leftist Syriza government’s call for debt relief.

Syriza, which is in coalition with the rightwing populist Independent party, is expected to meet huge opposition from within its own ranks and from trade unions and youth groups that viewed the referendum as a vote against any austerity.(...)

▶ Sinn Féins Martina Anderson tells Alexis Tsipras ’Ireland stands with Greece’ - YouTube
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSNbJFbPFUA

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson addresses the European Parliament praising the Greek Government and Alexi Tsipras for standing up for democracy

RBS Economics sur Twitter : “#Greece austerity gauge. Greek government spending has fallen 20% since 2008. In UK and Italy it’s up. #GreekCrisis”
▻https://twitter.com/RBS_Economics/status/618331766701600768

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#Grèce #austérité