1/ It seems many outside Greece wonder why Tsipras can't win the moderates, the centrists, the liberals, the swing voters, and is therefore projected to lose big in tomorrow's elections. A case in point from the NYT below:
2/ First, some of the reporting is inaccurate (see below). The reality is that Greece was actually growing when the elections that catapulted him in office were called. It was his govt which actually led the country back to the brink of bankruptcy AND a 2-year-long recession
3/ As for investors and `normality' returning, come on... Every single analyst note (from brokers, investment banks) doesn't attribute it to Tsipras, but to *investors actually pricing in* that Tsipras will be gone (plus the completely unrelated ECB policy guidance). For example:
4/ There are more inaccuracies out there. Truth is, Greece was improving in international competitiveness rankings before Tsipras came to power. It's been *slipping* since - from the WB's Doing Business report, to WEF's competitiveness index and recently on TI's Corruption Index
5/ And Greeks got the worst of both worlds: Data show that Tsipras tightened fiscal policy more than any creditor asked, more than Schäuble's wildest dreams, while the rebound after the 2015-16 recession that himself brought was consistently weaker than EU Commission projections
6/ On top of that, Greek progressives/liberals do blame the government for incompetence. Just one example: conditions in Greek migration camps are akin to systematic torture, and definitely worse than they were under any previous administration, despite ample EU funds this time:
7/ Then there is the mishandling of fires, floods, oil spills and virtually every other crisis, resulting into *hundreds of deaths*, and alienating any centrists who could be tempted to fall for Tsipras's alleged transformation. Well put by the FT: ft.com/content/02ddec…
8/ The final myth is that Tsipras took on vested interests, while others are servants to the establishment. The truth is that Tsipras enjoyed free holidays in tycoons' yachts, hanged out with oligarchs who made headlines on tax evasion,etc. Hence he's losing votes to left & right
9/ Crucially, there's so much bad blood between Tsipras and the center, which can't be washed even if he spends the rest of his life singing the Ode to Joy and campaigning for EU's expansion all the way to Japan. And it's not only because of the economic damage he caused in 2015
10/ Until 2015, Syriza was accusing pro-bailout EU backers not of being wrong, which would be entirely legitimate in democratic discourse, but of being `collaborators'. Himself has explicitly accused the Papademos govt of being servants to foreign interests, so traitors.
11/ So how do you expect these people to forget? Or to forget queuing in the scorching heat of the Athenian summer for 60 euros? The closed banks? The relegation of Greece from a developed to an emerging (to be precise: submerging) economy? It will take years for wounds to heal
12/ Tsipras survived this long because he served petty, sectoral interests here & there (including in Brussels). He will rely on those benefiting from such handouts to survive tomorrow's elections. Not on some remarkable transformation to a European Obama who can rally the center
13/ PS: Thomas Wieser, one of the most respected policy economists in the EU, has said the damage caused by Tsipras's first term is around 200 billion euros (I assume after a discount rate to project losses to the future). Tell me one PM anywhere in the EU who get away with that
PS 2: Please excuse typos, errors. iPhone not the ideal to write something coherent
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Υπάρχει σοβαρό πρόβλημα με το Ταμείο Ανάκαμψης και τον Κοινοτικό Προϋπολογισμό. Χθες, στη συνεδρίαση της Επιτροπής Μονίμων Αντιπροσώπων, έγινε περιγραφή της κατάστασης με δραματικούς τόνους. Ελλάδα και Κύπρος (όπως και οι άλλες χώρες του Νότου) θα δεχθούν πλήγμα σε τρία μέτωπα:
Παρένθεση - η Επιτροπή Μονίμων Αντιπροσώπων στις Βρυξέλλες (COREPER) είναι το επίπεδο όπου τα κράτη-μέλη της ΕΕ λαμβάνουν το 98% των συλλογικών αποφάσεων τους. Οι υπουργοί *συνήθως* βάζουν μία τζίφρα σε αποφάσεις & κείμενα που έχουν ήδη συμφωνηθεί στο COREPER. Εξ ου και..
... ο Μόνιμος Αντιπρόσωπος κάθε κ-μ είναι η πιο σημαντική θέση της διοίκησης, πιο σημαντική από υπουργού. Τα κ-μ είναι ο βασικός νομοθέτης στην ΕΕ (σαν άνω Βουλή). Και οι αποφάσεις τους λαμβάνονται μέσω του COREPER. Κλείνει η παρένθεση. Χθες λοιπόν...
If 🇵🇱 & 🇭🇺 don’t drop their veto by Dec. 7, then the EU will have to operate via monthly emergency budgets as of January. That would mean financial paralysis & the progressive suspension of all but essential spending, the Commission warned today bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The budget situation will get progressively worse, for reasons related also to Brexit, the Commission explained to EU ambassadors today. The French envoy warned the rule of law quarrel could signal a “fundamental rupture,” which raises questions about the very future of the EU.
There are procedural and legal reasons why this is the case, which can’t fit in a tweet, and don’t matter that much. The point is that the situation is serious. Spain’s envoy urged his peers to communicate to capitals how grave is the situation
In our Brussels Edition newsletter this morning: All eyes on Budapest, where the leaders of Poland and Hungary meet at 11 am CET, as pressure builds on them to relent on their opposition to the EU's budget and jointly financed stimulus: bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
One Polish official signaled that without any plan to draw up a counterproposal, the meeting is unlikely to provide the breakthrough many are waiting for. In Brussels, diplomats will decide on the next steps after today's meeting bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
One idea making the rounds in Brussels is to end the ongoing Article 7 rule of law procedure against Hungary and Poland (the Council concluding that there are no grounds for sanctions), in effect providing a clean slate before the new mechanism for the budget kicks in
Δυο λόγια και στα ελληνικά για το τι συνέβη στη Σύνοδο Κορυφής: σε ό,τι αφορά την Κύπρο, δεν πήρε φυσικά αυτό που ζητάει εδώ και μήνες - τη διεύρυνση της λίστας κυρώσεων που έχουν επιβληθεί για τις δραστηριότητες της Τουρκίας στις επίμαχες περιοχές.
Η 🇨🇾 κατάφερε όμως να βγουν από το κείμενο διατυπώσεις που θεωρούσε προβληματικές, καθώς σύμφωνα με τη Λευκωσία φαινόταν να «υιοθετούν Τουρκικά επιχειρήματα». Το ότι μπήκαν στο αρχικό κείμενο όμως δείχνει ότι αυτά τα επιχειρήματα έχουν απήχηση στις Βρυξελλες
Στο τέλος βγήκαν αυτές οι διατυπώσεις (όπως μας εξήγησε κορυφαίος αξιωματούχος ΕΕ, το αρχικό κείμενο κατατέθηκε έτσι, ώστε να αλλάξει και να βγει από τη Σύνοδο η Κύπρος έχοντας κερδίσει κάτι), αλλά αυτό δεν σημαίνει και πολλά. Η ρίζα του προβλήματος θεωρείται το Κυπριακό
1/ Some insights from senior EU official briefing after the #euco: if you read the entire statement #Turkish foreign ministry statement (official read it very carefully) it’s actually positive. There’s a sense that Turkey is willing to engage. Then the usual about all options etc
2/ Official appeared fully convinced that EU/Turkey relations won’t be normalised unless if the Cyprus issue is resolved. Said that a UN initiative is coming with considerable urgency after the election in the North. The EU will push in this direction.
3/ According to the official, no one wins everything in a negotiation and has the sense that Greece at least is fully aware of this. For example, the ICJ won’t give Greece everything that it wants and yet Greece is willing to go there.
It's the first day of a two-day summit dedicated to conveying the image of a more assertive Europe. Here's what's going to happen: bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Let's start with China. In a wording that echoes many of the concerns raised by the US, EU leaders will declare that the bloc needs to rebalance its relationship with China. Leaders will also give credit to themselves for Xi's carbon commitment. Our story: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
On industrial policy, EU leaders will declare that strategic autonomy is a `key objective' of the Union. But what exactly does this mean? We have covered this issue extensively. See for example: bloomberg.com/news/newslette…