Concrete measures and figures only count in a political debate, otherwise there is no common ground and credibility is at stake
Opinion
Yannis Varoufakis is a sort of strange creature populating the EU institutions. He doesn't want to talk to anybody who says anything about the current assistance programme running in Greece. All the other European partners see in Varoufakis a strange and perhaps a very old conception of market, economy, growth. In other words, a man coming from another planet. Just on Monday the Greek minister of Finance said the current programme is something unacceptable. The new Hellenic government doesn't like «the philosophy» behind the cure thought for Greece by the Eurogroup and the Troika. «Philosophy» was the word used by Varoufakis in his final press conference, and then we can image how, despite all, the Greek minister could be considered. First of all there are no possibilities to change the treaty just because a democratically elected government has been elected. Such a scenario is not foreseen by the International law. According to it just in case of coups or creation of new States all the agreements signed by previous national authorities can be considered as expired. In all other case any contract remain legally binding. So conditions are not in place to call for another assistance programme, and that is something both Varoufakis and his prime minister, Alexis Tsipras know really well. At the same time a minister for Finance can't come to Brussels to talk about philosophy. In Brussels only concrete measures and numbers count. Neither philosophy nor academic discussion have sense in policy, and they have even less sense when a quick agreement is needed, as Greece needs.
The Hellenic republic is not able to repay loans, thus soon or late Greece will need a new financial support. No way, philosophy is not the answer of the problem. Here Varoufakis seems to play the role of the outsider: he was twice in Brussels without any number. No figures have been put on the table, neither at political level nor at technical one, so having a dialogue becomes impossible. Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German minister of Finance, made the situation clear when he said that none of his colleagues understand what Greece wants. In a framework like that having confidence is impossible, so the extension of the current programme is the only feasible possibility because it offers guarantees. Only after an extension of the programme it will be possible to start in-depth discussions, but now it doesn't seem the case. Large part of the responsibilities lie in Greece, where politicians prefer a focus on «philosophy» rather than on reality. The Greek point of view is understandable, of course, but there is no "real politik" in the Hellenic approach. The only possibility to renegotiate the programme is to be credible, and Varoufakis is not. At last the game is played by creditors, and they (were forced to?) put Greece in front of an ultimatum. It makes sense. It is impossible to think to can impose conditions to creditors. Practical and pragmatic people would propose new measures and would prepare documents to share and discuss, so Mr. Varoufakis please stop talking about philosophy.
Yannis Varoufakis is a sort of strange creature populating the EU institutions. He doesn't want to talk to anybody who says anything about the current assistance programme running in Greece. All the other European partners see in Varoufakis a strange and perhaps a very old conception of market, economy, growth. In other words, a man coming from another planet. Just on Monday the Greek minister of Finance said the current programme is something unacceptable. The new Hellenic government doesn't like «the philosophy» behind the cure thought for Greece by the Eurogroup and the Troika. «Philosophy» was the word used by Varoufakis in his final press conference, and then we can image how, despite all, the Greek minister could be considered. First of all there are no possibilities to change the treaty just because a democratically elected government has been elected. Such a scenario is not foreseen by the International law. According to it just in case of coups or creation of new States all the agreements signed by previous national authorities can be considered as expired. In all other case any contract remain legally binding. So conditions are not in place to call for another assistance programme, and that is something both Varoufakis and his prime minister, Alexis Tsipras know really well. At the same time a minister for Finance can't come to Brussels to talk about philosophy. In Brussels only concrete measures and numbers count. Neither philosophy nor academic discussion have sense in policy, and they have even less sense when a quick agreement is needed, as Greece needs.
The Hellenic republic is not able to repay loans, thus soon or late Greece will need a new financial support. No way, philosophy is not the answer of the problem. Here Varoufakis seems to play the role of the outsider: he was twice in Brussels without any number. No figures have been put on the table, neither at political level nor at technical one, so having a dialogue becomes impossible. Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German minister of Finance, made the situation clear when he said that none of his colleagues understand what Greece wants. In a framework like that having confidence is impossible, so the extension of the current programme is the only feasible possibility because it offers guarantees. Only after an extension of the programme it will be possible to start in-depth discussions, but now it doesn't seem the case. Large part of the responsibilities lie in Greece, where politicians prefer a focus on «philosophy» rather than on reality. The Greek point of view is understandable, of course, but there is no "real politik" in the Hellenic approach. The only possibility to renegotiate the programme is to be credible, and Varoufakis is not. At last the game is played by creditors, and they (were forced to?) put Greece in front of an ultimatum. It makes sense. It is impossible to think to can impose conditions to creditors. Practical and pragmatic people would propose new measures and would prepare documents to share and discuss, so Mr. Varoufakis please stop talking about philosophy.
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