24/01/2014 By the Greek Debt Audit Campaign, The utter failure of political management of public debt by the governments of George Papandreou up to the current one of Samaras in agreement with the lenders has led to a reinvigorated debate about what next on the public debt issue. The failure is confirmed by the explosion…
by the Greek Debt Audit campaign International lenders and their domestic Greek collaborators (the coalition government) are imposing widespread impoverishment and austerity in order to serve their interests. Meanwhile, the debt mechanism continues to chip away at the last remnants of rights that have remained. Despite this, there is a lot of talk these days…
Enjoy the 2nd newsletter of #TroikaWatch: In this newsletter you can read about: Overall situation European level Greece Ireland Portugal Cyprus Spain Italy Slovenia Who we are and why we write this newsletter Overall situation While the general outlook remains broadly unchanged, with the Troika still pushing for severe austerity and national governments continuing their…
Spread (difference in interest rates): In the current crisis, this term primarily means the difference between the interest rate paid by an EU country borrowing money, and the rate paid for equivalent borrowing by Germany. It represents the premium paid by Greece to investors who prefer Greek from German bonds. Before Greece fell prey to…
Odious Debt: Under a UN proposal (of April 2010) a debt is considered odious not only if it is product of a suspicious exchange, but whenever its repayment involves the circumvention, violation or abolition of basic human rights. Whenever a country has to destroy jobs and cut people’s incomes, cut social and public spending, and…
Gross Domestic Product, GDP: The total value of all goods and services produced within a country during a given year, including those produced by units owned by people who live abroad. The Greek GDP in 2010 amounted to €230 bln, with a real fall of 4.5% in comparison to 2009. In 2011 the fall approached…
In April 2010, when the Greek bond spreads exploded to new heights, rendering impossible Greece’s funding from the capital markets, the Prime Minister requested, from the remote island of Castelorizo, a bailout package for the country. It is basically a 3-year loan worth €110 bln, with an original interest rate of 5%; €80 bln are…
Debt (Public): The total loan obligations of the state. It may refer to the debt of the central government (the ministries and the decentralised governance bodies), or the general government (central government plus hospitals, pension funds, public companies, and local authorities). Depending on its origin, debt is divided into internal and external. As for debt…
Credit Default Swaps (CDS): Insurance contracts which cover the buyer (e.g. a bank that buys a bond) against the occurrence that the bond issuer (e.g. a country) defaults; they are a ‘fruit’ of the 1990s. A bank which purchases government bonds may insure its bond purchases with another bank, which undertakes to pay the insurance…
This dictionary was created by members of the Economy Working Group of Syntagma Square. Its purpose is to demystify and clarify some economic and financial terms which have dominated our lives recently. It is a form of resistance to the powerful who, invoking various unheard of until yesterday terms and concepts, dump the burden of…
13 August by Jérome Duval (PACD Spain) Six years of recession, an impressive drop in GDP from €231 billion in 2009 to €193 billion in 2012, unemployment at 26.9% in April 2013 from 7.5% in 2008, 57% for the under 25s, and an explosion of suicide cases… This overview of Greece is catastrophic and alarming…
Announcement Greek Debt Audit Campaign The Greek Debt Audit Campaign (ELE) condemns the latest autocratic attack of the government, as indicated with the arrest of the professor and lawyer Spyros Marketos and the lawyer Babis Kouroundis by the police of Thessaloniki airport on Monday 15th July. They were arrested because the authorities claimed they violated…
The Greece Solidarity Campaign was set up just over a year ago, to mobilise support for Greece from the British public, politicians, academics, journalists and unionists, in these trying times. One of our main aims is to help Greece and the Greek people to counteract the negative images that have been promoted within the rest…
The government of the memorandum is falling apart, trapped in the consequences of its own austerity policies. Its panic became apparent when the Prime Minister circumvented the parliament and then bypassed even the cabinet. Unconstitutionally, the signature of one and only minister shut the public broadcaster, paving the way for this same method to be…