Δημ. Παπαδημούλης στo Bloomberg: "Τα άμεσα, πρόσθετα μέτρα που προτείνει το ΔΝΤ είναι χωρίς βάση. Τέτοια μέτρα θα προκαλέσουν εκ νέου ύφεση και θα θέσουν σε κίνδυνο τις προοπτικές ανάπτυξης"
Με αφορμή τα στοιχεία της Eurostat και ενόψει της σημερινής συνεδρίασης του Εurogroup, ο Αντιπρόεδρος του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου και ευρωβουλευτής του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, Δημήτρης Παπαδημούλης, μίλησε σήμερα στο πρακτορείο Bloomberg.
Αξίζει να σημειωθεί πως τα αποτελέσματα της Eurostat παρουσιάζουν πρωτογενές πλεόνασμα 0,7% του ΑΕΠ για το 2015, όταν ο στόχος του προγράμματος που συμφωνήθηκε τον περασμένο Ιούλιο ήταν πρωτογενές έλλειμμα 0,25% και οι εκτιμήσεις του ΔΝΤ μιλούσαν για έλλειμμα 0,6%.
Η διαφορά από το στόχο είναι της τάξης του 0,95% του ΑΕΠ, δηλαδή 1,6 δισ. ευρώ, ενώ το ΔΝΤ "έπεσε έξω" στις εκτιμήσεις του κατά 1,3% του ΑΕΠ, δηλαδή κατά 2,3 δισ. ευρώ.
Ο Έλληνας ευρωβουλευτής, απαντώντας σε σχετική ερώτηση του Bloomberg δήλωσε: "Τα άμεσα, πρόσθετα μέτρα που προτείνει το ΔΝΤ είναι χωρίς βάση. Τέτοια μέτρα θα προκαλέσουν εκ νέου ύφεση και θα θέσουν σε κίνδυνο τις προοπτικές ανάπτυξης".
Ακολουθεί το πλήρες δημοσίευμα του Bloomberg με τις δηλώσεις του Δημήτρη Παπαδημούλη, στα αγγλικά.
Link για συνδρομητές του Bloomberg: http://ow.ly/4mYuaP
Greece Eyes Path to Aid Lifeline as Fiscal Resurrection in Doubt
2016-04-22
By Ian Wishart, Nikos Chrysoloras and Corina Ruhe
(Bloomberg)
-- Almost seven years after sparking the euro-
area debt crisis, Greece faces a new budget confrontation with
its international creditors amid fresh German warnings that its
long-term success is far from assured.
Finance ministers representing nations that use the euro
are set to meet in Amsterdam on Friday to assess Greece’s
eligibility for more aid payouts under the country’s third
bailout since 2010. A year ago, a similar gathering put the
newly elected government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on a
collision course with Europe that almost forced Greece out of
the 19-nation bloc.
A faction of the creditors want Greece to commit to further
austerity measures in the event the nation doesn’t comply with
the budget targets set out in its bailout program, an
unpalatable proposition for the government in Athens that was
elected on a promise to unwind the strict economic rules. While
Greece doesn’t face an immediate threat of a return to the
drachma, concern that the country can’t commit to fiscal
rectitude and a mountain of debt are reviving questions about
its long-term viability.
“I’m not sure it will work,” German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble, the most powerful minister in attendance,
said this week in Berlin when asked about the outlook for
Greece’s latest rescue. On the short-term question of whether
the Tsipras administration and creditors can reach a deal after
months of talks on the release of another aid installment,
Schaeuble said: “I’m not that pessimistic; we’ve made progress.”
Budget Surplus
While poor governance skills, inexperience and a
provocative style all combined last year to unify the rest of
the euro area against Tsipras, concrete budget achievements, a
more diplomatic style and a European migration crisis with
Greece at its epicenter have given the government some leverage.
On Thursday, the European Union said Greece posted a 2015
budget surplus excluding interest payments and the cost of bank
recapitalization of 0.7 percent of gross domestic product --
better than the target of a slight deficit set by the euro area
and the International Monetary Fund.
The current review of Greece’s compliance with its bailout
is already six months behind schedule, hobbled by disagreements
over pension changes, income tax, state-asset sales, the
management of banks’ non-performing loans and energy-market
deregulation. The list of unfinished business includes items
that date back to Greece’s original rescue six years ago.
Whereas 2015 featured make-or-break meetings of European
leaders because their more junior ministers were unable to agree
on a Greek accord, creditors have warned Tsipras they are
determined to prevent the matter from returning to such a high
political level this year, according to an EU official. That
puts the spotlight firmly on the finance chiefs including
Schaeuble, who last year caused a stir by suggesting Greece
would be better off leaving the euro.
More Austerity
The newest hurdle in the aid-disbursement talks is an IMF
demand that Greece draft legislation on extra austerity that
would kick in should the government miss future budget targets.
These so-called contingent fiscal measures would be in addition
to a belt-tightening package of 5.4 billion euros ($6.1 billion)
over the coming three years.
The extent to which these measures would have to be enacted
for the bailout review to close will be a chief topic at
Friday’s meeting, according to an EU official. While some
finance ministers may take a tough line, the European Commission
-- the EU’s executive arm -- endorses the Greek position that no
such preemptive austerity should be necessary.
“Contingent measures proposed by the IMF are unfounded,”
Dimitris Papadimoulis, a member of the European Parliament for
Greece’s governing Syriza party, said by e-mail. “The IMF’s
contingent measures aim at plunging Greece once again into
recession and jeopardize growth prospects.”
After losing about a quarter of its economy since the
outbreak of the debt crisis, Greece is the only one of five
rescued euro countries still reliant on international emergency
aid. While that is an argument for more leniency to some in the
euro area, it’s proof to a German-led camp that the pressure
can’t be let up.
“Additional measures are needed as a safety net in case the
forecasts and the impact of the measures are disappointing,”
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the group
of his euro-area counterparts, said in The Hague on Wednesday.
“This is a guarantee which is wise and provides trust.”
22.04.2016
