Courtesy of Mish.
The war of words between Greece and its creditors took a leap in intensity today, with Greece declaring its debt illegal and odious, and Germany calling the Greek leaders “clowns”.
Debt Illegitimate, Odiousness, Illegal, Unsustainable
Please consider a few snips from a translation of the Executive Report of the Hellenic Parliament’s Debt Truth Committee.
Several legal arguments permit a State to unilaterally repudiate its illegal, odious, and illegitimate debt. In the Greek case, such a unilateral act may be based on the following arguments: the bad faith of the creditors that pushed Greece to violate national law and international obligations related to human rights; preeminence of human rights over agreements such as those signed by previous governments with creditors or the Troika; coercion; unfair terms flagrantly violating Greek sovereignty and violating the Constitution; and finally, the right recognized in international law for a State to take countermeasures against illegal acts by its creditors, which purposefully damage its fiscal sovereignty, oblige it to assume odious, illegal and illegitimate debt, violate economic self-determination and fundamental human rights.
People’s dignity is worth more than illegal, illegitimate, odious and unsustainable debt
Having concluded a preliminary investigation, the Committee considers that Greece has been and still is the victim of an attack premeditated and organized by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission. This violent, illegal, and immoral mission aimed exclusively at shifting private debt onto the public sector.
CSU Secretary General Calls Greek Leaders “Clowns”
Let’s also take a peek at the Reuters story Greece’s Future in EU in Doubt if Talks Fail, Central Bank Warns.
A warning by Greece’s central bank that the country risked being driven from the euro zone and, ultimately, the European Union failed to break a deadlock with creditors before a potentially decisive meeting of European finance ministers.
“People are getting anxious on both sides. Athens expects Brussels to move. And Brussels expects Athens to move. And it’s stuck,” said a senior EU diplomat, who declined to be named. “It’s very dangerous, and we may have an accident.”
Making clear the huge stakes at play, the Greek central bank said reaching an accord was “an historical imperative” that the country could not ignore.
“Failure to reach an agreement would … mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and, most likely, from the European Union,” the Bank of Greece said in a monetary policy report.
Highlighting the fraying tempers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies accused Athens on Wednesday of not grasping the seriousness of the situation, with CSU Secretary-General Andreas Scheuer calling Greek rulers “clowns“.
Failure to Grasp Seriousness of the Situation
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