The first priority of the Tsipras government was supposed to be settling the debt. Of course, it has been some time since statements were made that a haircut was a main pursuit. Objectively, the country’s main ally in this endeavor should have been the IMF, which for some time now insisted at every opportunity that the Greek debt is not sustainable.
For its own reasons, the Tsipras government decided to publicly vilify the IMF. As a result, now that the talks on the debt have once again begun, it is awkwardly watching by as the Fund is defending, in principle, the government’s priorities. Everything indicates that there is a tug-of-war, primarily between the IMF and Germany, which – at least of the time being – is refusing to accept any settlements and postpone the discussion for 2018.
Obviously the Fund will serve its own purposes at first, as it has many member states that believe it has exposed itself too much in Greece. The SYRIZA government, however, rather than take advantage of the differences between our partners, did it everything it could to undermine its relationship with the IMF. This culminated with taking advantage of the leaked talks between IMF officials, which were mysteriously (?) intercepted and leaked during their stay in Athens.
This is yet another example of the rushed and opportunistic strategy that is typical of the government. The delusions regrading the hard negotiations all this time are confirmed once again, in relation to the debt talks. Consequently, we are having the current debate after it took one more bailout with particularly painful measures, while the substantial debt settlement is being postponed for in few years.
TO VIMA
