Nicos Papandreou: “The present policy will not solve the problem”

An article written by one of the brothers of the Greek PM George Papandreou, Nicos Papandreou, which is published in “Financial Review” magazine, analyzes the blind alley the government’s measures and handlings are taking the country down as an effort to exit the crisis.

N. Papandreou begins by admitting that “austerity measures are will not ‘melt the snow’ and no one needs to be a Nobel Prize winner to realize this”. Nevertheless, he says that the adopted “anti-popular policy is not PASOK’s choice but an imposed way of dealing with the situation that stems from the existing and predominant international system”.

To the question whether this policy bears any signs of optimism, the writer categorically responds that “it will never even solve the problem itself” let alone be the bearer of  a 'positive atmosphere".

In his view, the austerity measures are imposed by the markets and at the same time, also by a “one-sided blindness focused on a conservative financial way of thinking”. What is more, the role of the IMF is quite a decisive one, too, as “for about 30 years now, it is pretty clear how they handle countries that ‘bend down’ asking for their help and are obliged to seek their assistance so as not to go bankrupt”.

In addition, he commented on the reactions caused by the assistance that Greece asked the IMF for, saying: “The fact that groups of intellectuals and opposition parties have not read even a single book on finance issues and crisis-related ones is incomprehensible to me”. In his opinion, all attacks by the opposition should be against our lenders and not the PASOK government. On top of that, they should as well try and convince the lenders - with “serious and technocratic proposals” - to adopt different policies which would be totally unrelated to painful measures.

Although austerity means no potential for development, it was practically necessary since without it “Greece would be on its own. That is, bankrupt!”, says the premier’s brother and like George Papandreou, he believes that we need to undergo this “bitter” period in order for international partners to trust us yet again.

According to Nicos Papamdreou, the basic goal os to “alter our partners’ mandate - an almost impossible mission - so that we can move away from these commands”. In this framework, the solution is “way beyond the extreme cuts dictated by a conservative system” and could be summed up in a three-fold proposal: a cross-Europe Marshall plan, the Eurobonds and a democratic overthrow of Europe’s conservative governments.

Translated by Lida Filippakis