[D66] Podemos on Greece: austerity and democracy

[J.N.]

"There are two contradictory fields in Europe: austerity and democracy,
the government of the people or the government of the market and its
unelected powers. We stand firm on the side of democracy. We stand firm
with the Greek people."

[austerity and asterity, J.N.]


http://podemos.info/in-view-of-the-situation-in-greece-and-following-the-breakdown-in-the-negotiations-by-the-eurogroup-podemos-wishes-to-communicate-the-following/

In view of the situation in Greece, and following the breakdown in the
negotiations by the Eurogroup, Podemos wishes to communicate the following:

1.- Last Monday, the Greek government presented a proposal to the
Eurogroup which included important concessions and was unanimously
welcomed by the lenders as being reasonable and viable. In the following
days, however, the international creditors led by the IMF did not accept
the Greek government’s proposal to tax the wealthiest sectors of
society, restructure the debt and launch an investment plan to revive
the economy. Instead, they demanded to raise VAT on basic services and
food and required further cuts on pensions and wages. In their effort to
demonstrate that there is no alternative to austerity, the creditors
only seem to accept the money of the poor, and insist on imposing the
same logic and measures that led the country into a humanitarian
disaster. The Greek economy is asphyxiated. To keep strangling it is the
precise opposite of what must be done.

2.- Facing such blackmail and extortion, the Greek government has
reacted to the ultimatum in an exemplary manner: by calling on the
people to decide their own future in a democratic and sovereign way.
Unlike the Spanish governments of 2011 and 2012, the Greek government
has refused to violate the popular mandate derived from the January
election. All the attempts at coercing, intimidating and influencing
this vote by unelected powers, especially by the European Central Bank
-which is willing to suffocate the Greek financial system to influence
the outcome of the referendum-, constitute a flagrant and unacceptable
violation of the democratic principle. We say that Europe without
democracy is not Europe: all democrats should join their voices in
denouncing these intolerable interferences and pressures. Democracy is
incompatible with letting unelected powers govern and decide for us. It
is democracy what is at stake.

3- With their intransigence, the creditors have demonstrated that they
have no interest at all in solving the Greek debt crisis; their aim is
rather to subject and overthrow a democratically elected government so
as to prove that there is no alternative to the politics of austerity.
Their blindness is such that they are willing to put at risk the
integrity and the stability of the financial system and the European
project itself, exposing them to speculative attacks whose price will
ultimately be paid also by the citizens of other countries. We will say
it once and again: they will be the ones to blame, they will be
responsible for the consequences of this disaster.

4- Syriza did not create the tremendous economic crisis that affects
Greece. It was the governments of New Democracy and PASOK, the friends
of our PP and PSOE, who falsified data and accounts, surrendered the
sovereignty of the country to the Troika, and handed Syriza an economic
and social catastrophe that is necessary and urgent to reverse.

5.- Many international actors have already distanced themselves from the
dogmatism of the creditors. Hundreds of thousands of people across the
world have expressed their solidarity with the Greek people in their
defense of the democratic principle. We demand that the Spanish
Government and the European institutions respect the sovereignty and
dignity of the Greek people, and that they consequently guarantee that
the referendum takes place in conditions of freedom and complete
normality. The democratic will and the fundamental rights of the Greek
people, which have been systematically attacked during the long years of
austerity, must be respected.

There are two contradictory fields in Europe: austerity and democracy,
the government of the people or the government of the market and its
unelected powers. We stand firm on the side of democracy. We stand firm
with the Greek people.