Recovery with a Human Face
  • E-Discussion 2010-
  • About this e-discussion
  • Books
  • Recent Articles
  • Contact

Recovery with a Human Face

A discussion on alternatives for a socially-responsive crisis recovery
 

March 23rd, 2015

3/23/2015

 
Dear colleagues

From our CADTM news
Best regards,


Éric Toussaint
Senior Lecturer at the University of Liège,
President of CADTM Belgium (Committee for the Abolition of Third-World Debt)


www.cadtm.org/The-Speaker-of-the-Greek

by CADTM

20 March 2015

The Speaker of the Greek parliament launches a debt audit commission

The Speaker of the Greek parliament, Zoé Konstantopoulou, has announced during a press conference on 17 March 2015 the creation of a commission to audit the Greek debt. The scientific coordination of the commission will be led by Eric Toussaint, Spokesman for CADTM and a member of the Ecuadorian debt audit Commission that sat in 2007-2008. “The purpose is to identify any debts taken on by the Greek government that may have an illegal, illegitimate or odious nature,” the Greek people “has the right to demand that any part of the Greek debt that may eventually be shown to be illegal – be erased,” declared the Greek Parliament’s Speaker.

Also present at the press conference was Sofia Sakorafa, SYRIZA elected MEP (since 2014), who accepted to be the newly formed committee’s liaison with the European Parliament. Sofia Sakorafa quit the PASOK party in 2010 when George Papandreou pushed through the memorandum signed conjointly with the Troika. Already in December 2010 as a Greek MP she was favourable to a proposition to create a debt audit. In 2011, she took part in launching a committee for the citizen’s audit of Greek debt (ELE). In 2012 she was the the Greek MP, all parties considered, elected with the highest number of votes. Georges Katrougalos, Minister for institutional reform was also present at the press conference to bring his support to the Parliamentary Speaker’s initiative. Georges Katrougalos had also participated in the launching of ELE. Finally, the Parliamentary Speakerhailed the presence of ELE members: Moisis Litsis, Sonia and Giorgos Mitralias ( CADTM Greece), and Leonidas Vatikiodis (one of the authors of the films Debtocracy and Catastroïka).

The Greek, as well as French and Spanish, media have widely reported this press conference:(Le Monde, Le Soir, L’Echo, L’Avenir, Agence France Presse...), as well as publicly run radio stations in Belgium and Romansh Switzerland. The one o’clock news on the Belgian public radio and television service broadcast an interview with Eric Toussaint live from Syndagma place in Athens just after the press conference (can be seen here).

In all, about thirty Greek and International experts will take part in the commission and a preliminary report is expected in June. “Either when the 20 February agreement comes to termination or when a new round of negotiations will start”, says Adea Guillot, permanent correspondant to Le Soir and Le Monde. Not all of the names of the commission members will not be known until the first meeting in early April. From April to June is not much time but that will only be the beginning. Eric Toussaint said in an interview given to the Belgian financial newspaper L’Echo “We will make a preliminary report in June mostly concerning the debt claimed by the Troika, now called the ’Institutions’, but the whole audit will probably take until December 2015. The goal of the commission is to show to the Greek people, by deep reaching analysis, the nature of the loans made to Greece. This matter is urgent, the Greek people are being stigmatised”.

Zoé Konstantopoulou is already being accused by different Greek political parties (New Democracy, PASOK and Potami) of fanning the flames of dissent. But this woman, who has an enormous capacity for work (http://www.lemonde.fr/international... ), will keep going. “A whole people has been pushed to its knees and we cannot accept to be subjected to such propaganda (…) We have a duty to act or this debt will burden our future generations.”

In any case the Debt Audit Commission is not a substitute for the Greek government who will decide which debts should be paid and which debts should be erased. Again as Adea Guillot remarked: “Once the result of the audit is known, and should it conclude that a part of the Greek debt is illegitimate, nothing will oblige the creditors to accept pure and simple write-offs of their loans. But ’the Greek government could take the sovereign decision not to pay’, says Eric Toussaint. ’Our commission seeks to provide solid and rational arguments to support the Greek government should it take this course of action’, he added”.


Comments are closed.

    This e-discussion is ongoing by email Apologies if late updates on this website...


    Moderator
    

    Isabel Ortiz
    Director Social Protection ILO

    Picture
    Follow on Twitter 
    To join this e-discussion, send an email to: [email protected]
    with SUBSCRIBE recoveryhumanface in the subject 

    Archives

    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All


    This e-discussion is intended to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and to
    stimulate discussion; 
    the interpretations and p
    ositions expressed by contributors do not reflect the policies of ILO. 

    “We, the Peoples” are the first words of the UN Charter. The UN was founded in 1945 and
    mandated to respond to the needs and rights of all persons, in every country of the world. In this spirit of social justice, a real world recovery means a recovery for all
    persons, not simply the recovery of a few economic indicators and
    companies.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.