THE Greek Finance Minister has sent a letter of capitulation to the EU’s diktats, dated Wednesday 18 February 2015.
It was sent to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem after Greece’s application for a six months’ extension of the hated bail-out austerity memorandum was refused.
Greece’s letter was set to be discussed at a special Eurogroup meeting on Friday afternoon.
The letter accepts the November 2012 Eurogroup diktats of savage austerity measures, declares that Greece will ‘honour its financial obligations’, will collaborate to ‘successfully conclude’ the current bail-out agreement, will ‘refrain from unilateral action,’ and ‘agrees on supervision under the EU, ECB and IMF for the duration of the extended Agreement’, that is the troika.
On Thursday, the Greek government withdrew legislation which would have stopped banks taking over homes and for low monthly payments of taxes and other debt to the state by families and businesses.
The Greek government attempted to dress up its betrayal of election promises by stating that its Eurogroup application was for a six-month ‘Master Financial Assistance Facility Agreement’ and not for an extension of the bail-out ‘programme’ (austerity measures).
This brought the violent reaction of the German Finance Ministry that demanded a clear acceptance by Greece of all EU diktats without playing with words.
The Greek Prime Minister and Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras spent hours on the telephone on Thursday speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, no doubt pleading for support to save face.
On Thursday evening Tsipras visited Chinese Navy ships at the port of Piraeus and his speech for economic collaboration between China and Greece was broadcast live by radio and national television.
Greek workers and youth are stunned by Tsipras’ betrayal while Greek right-wing parties mock SYRIZA’s stand.
Now workers will have to quickly mobilise to avoid the consequences of a new and extended austerity bail-out. The Trotskyists of the Revolutionary Marxist League have called on Popular Assemblies and the trade unions to organise action against the EU’s blackmail and SYRIZA’s capitulation.
