Courtesy of Mish.
On Friday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras backed down on nearly every promise made to the Greek electorate except one, to stay on the euro. After so much tough rhetoric, the question is why?
I believe the answer is the Greek primary account surplus vanished, making it impossible to honor all commitments made.
Simply put, Greece had to choose between staying on the euro and honoring the other campaign promises.
Greece Attacks Tax Evasion
On Monday, Greece will submit its reform plan to eurozone officials. At the heart of the deal, Reforms Will ‘Combat Tax Evasion’.
Greece will crack down on tax evasion and streamline its civil service in its bid to secure a bailout extension, minister of state Nikos Pappas says.
The government is working on a package of reforms that it must submit to international creditors on Monday. If the reforms are approved, Greece will be granted a vital four-month extension on its debt repayments.
Mr Pappas said the reforms being proposed would take the Greek economy “out of sedation”. “We are compiling a list of measures to make the Greek civil service more effective and to combat tax evasion,” he told Greece’s Mega Channel.
Illusion Shattered
Streamlining civil services will reduce expenses, but it’s hardly what the leftist government promised. Combating tax invasion was a campaign promise, so make it two campaign promises kept for those keeping an official score.
Nonetheless, those expecting Tsipras to immediately honor all pledges, just had their illusion shattered.
Reuters reports Greece Readies Reform Promises.
Top Marxist members of Tsipras’s Syriza party, a broad coalition of the left, have so far been silent on the painful compromises made to win agreement from the Eurogroup.
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