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by hectormalot
4000 days ago
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And that is exactly why the other eurozone countries had so much leverage in the negotiations. I suppose Tsipras could have foreseen this from a negotiation point of view. As a Dutch citizen, I'm not particularly proud of the way my government (and Germany, etc.) handled this. Silver lining is that it includes a 12.5b investment in the Greek economy, if invested well will boost economic recovery. I ask myself, would Greece be able to improve government spending and reduce corruption without this pain? |
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I think Tsipras was naive: he probably hoped Germany would be lenient because the alternative was so unthinkable.
In theory it's great to force a country to make productive reforms that politicians would otherwise refuse. In practice, the reforms demanded here are largely punitive and pointless.
The focus on corruption is a cheap way to claim to moral high ground, and to justify antidemocratic "parental oversight". If Greece allowed the equivalent of A Dutch Sandwich tax arrangement it would be called fraud and corruption. But when the Dutch do this it's somehow OK. Clamping down on corruption in Greece would certainly be a good thing, but the hysteria about corruption in the media is absurd.