Here's a malaka who should be on his knees begging German voters to bail out his bankrupt country. Instead he points a finger at German businesses blaming them instead of looking in the mirror and blaming that malaka.
Give Greece a break: what politicians need to tell German voters
Throwing arbitary figures around undermines the prospect for a much-needed debate about the future of the eurozone
One of the most hotly debated issues in Germany in the runup to the elections is the future of Greece. But, unfortunately, what we mostly hear is the terrible noise of populism and there are hardly any voices of reason.
People have started throwing numbers around in the most irresponsible and incomprehensible fashion, without any serious evidence to support their claims: "Greece will need 10bn more euros," says incumbent finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble; "Greece's financing needs are 77bn," responds Carsten Schneider, the opposition Social Democrat party's spokesman on budget issues; "Greece should leave the eurozone and have its debt erased," say the eurosceptics of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). And so on …
The truth is, of course, that all these numbers and claims are arbitrary. Therefore, they undermine the prospects for a well-informed public debate on the future of the eurozone periphery – a debate that German voters ought to have before they cast their vote in a few days time. The reality is that Greece has beaten its budget implementation targets for 2012. Data for the first seven months of 2013 support the projection that the country will do better than expected once again this year, finally reaching the seminal target of primary surplus, ie a budget surplus, excluding payments for servicing old debts.
The manufacturing PMI index for August reached a 44 month high, and Markit Economics says that it is not unlikely that recovery will get under way before the end of this year, earlier than anticipated. Early recovery means higher tax revenues, lower recapitalisation needs for the country's banks and increased confidence, which will fuel interest from investors for Greece's privatisation projects. In other words, less, if any, new money from the eurozone stability mechanisms.
Protests against government austerity measures outside the Greek parliament. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features
Other indicators, namely unemployment, which stands at a jaw-dropping 27.6%, and economic sentiment, which fell for a fourth consecutive month in August, do not leave much room for optimism. In other words, Greece could go either way. In light of these conflicting signs, the most responsible thing for German leaders would be to put their calculators back in their bags and stop mentioning numbers. Strangely enough, the most sober German view on the future of Greece comes from Klaus Regling, the managing director of the Luxembourg-based European Stability Mechanism: "Nobody knows how the world economy will look, how Europe will be doing or how important neighbours for Greece, like Turkey, will be doing in 10 months' time," he said, in a recent interview. He questioned the "quality" of all those numbers we hear, arguing that they are "very tentative".
Hence, instead of trying to look through the crystal ball, German politicians should try to inform their voters of their vision for Europe, and Germany's place within it. On the rare occasions that they do that, they project the completely misplaced stereotype that Germany's participation in the support programmes for the European periphery was a "philanthropic" operation. Well, it wasn't. Not only has Germany not lost a cent from the loans it has provided to Greece, and other troubled countries in the periphery, but the emergency facilities that were created in 2010 have also ensured that the global financial system did not suffer a cataclysmic collapse, following a Greek bankruptcy domino.
Greece would stand to lose as much as Germany after such a dramatic development. After all, Germany has probably gained more from the creation of the eurozone, and the record low interest rates after the outbreak of the crisis, than any other member state of the union.
Finally, since it always takes two to tango, German taxpayers should be reminded that German companies are involved in many of the economic scandals that brought the Greek state on the edge of the cliff.
What is even more worrying is that, once again, Greek people hear mainstream German politicians issuing threats and ultimatums. "Greece won't get a cent without reforms," said chancellor Angela Merkel. Such statements really stink of populism.
If the view of a Greek is not convincing enough, let me refer to independent assessments: both Regling and the Finnish vice-president of the European Commission, Olli Rehn, have repeatedly said Greece has achieved the largest fiscal adjustment of any country in history (more than 12% of GDP in the past three years). The sum total of austerity measures required to achieve this adjustment exceeded €49bn (£41bn), or 22.6% of Greece's GDP, in just two years!
Progress in structural reforms has also been impressive: the country earned first place on responsiveness to recommendations in the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Going for Growth report. Moreover, Greece improved its global ranking by a staggering 22 places in the 2013 Doing Business report, published by the World Bank.
Finally, according to the European commission and the OECD, Greece consistently records the highest number of hours worked by full-time employers in Europe and the developed world and far more than Germany.
In short, Greece started from a very low point and an extremely precarious position following grave mistakes that led to effective default, but it has come a long way since 2010. Greek people have made more efforts and paid a heavier price than all the other eurozone countries combined. No stone has been left unturned: the pension system, healthcare, labour market, public administration – everything changed in these years, amid wartime-like economic depression and draconian cuts. This violent adjustment took its toll on Greek society. Greece suffered from the largest GDP contraction in its peacetime history, the highest-ever levels of unemployment and skyrocketing poverty levels. So, please, give us a break.
If there is one thing political leaders should remind German voters is there are limits to how much you can impose on a democratic society before it implodes into something really ugly.
And this is a great great comment someone left in the comments section below the article:
Brigitte Bernadotte
05 September 2013 1:27pm
Well, the article is maybe one of the most arrogant opinions ever published here, and a proof of the Greek imperialism of our times. Let us just check the facts:
Greece swindled itself into the euro zone with faked numbers, an act against all people in the euro zone.
It remained in it despite it was neither good for Greece nor for the other countries; on the contrary it damaged Greece (Stockholm syndrome?), all EZ countries and indeed the world economy.
It has enough private wealth to solve all its, but is either unable or unwillingly to properly tax its people (like the ship owners) and instead believes the Germans are supposed to pay their bills (and the Dutch, Finnish etc etc).
All of their life a huge majority of Greeks voted for corrupt parties bringing the country to where it was years ago, and still is.
They also brought Cyprus (100% in Asia) into the EU (and the euro zone) with political blackmail, threatening to block EU’s eastern expansion.
The euro was forced on Germany (Kohl: “I acted like a dictator”) in exchange for reunification.
And while the German parliament (=of the country on which the euro was forced) voted with huge majorities for giving a country which lied itself into EMU gargantuan sums of money, the Greeks had nothing better to do to start a racist, incredible disgusting Nazi spree.
And everyone knows every billion thrown into this black hole is lost, what will soon become obvious.
I am neither willing to give Greece anything nor to live with it in any kind of community. I do not care for the future of Greece or an EU/Euro project which never asked me for my support. Whether Greece is paradise on Earth or hell – it doesn’t matter to me as long as those people cannot mess up my life any more, and dominate the political agenda of countries with other problems.
I will vote AfD.
the West ultimately won the day but this is a typical malakas)
Until they wake up and admit their shortcomings and stand on their own 2 feet they will never move forward without someone holding their hands, wiping their arses or paying off their debts. God help all of us if we ever become"like Greeks", I'd rather die first! 
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