Brussels, 25/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Barely hours after a political agreement was reached between Athens and its institutional creditors (see EUROPE 11557), the Liberals of the European Parliament on Wednesday 25 May dismissed the arguments that the three bailout plans applied since 2010 have allowed Greece to free itself from the economic mire.
By focusing on the budgetary objectives to be achieved in return for financial solidarity which has now exceeded the €230 billion mark, Greece's creditors are tackling the “symptoms” and not the “causes” of the Greek crisis, said the President of the ALDE group, Guy Verhofstadt. He said that many reforms have been voted on, but some of them have come to fruition only partially, such as the liberalisation of the energy market, and others not at all, such as the social security or public administration reforms. The leader of the Centrist party To Potami, Stavros Theodorakis, spoke out against political professionals in Greece and their impossible promises (e.g. maintaining VAT on the Greek islands, refusing to sell a port to the Chinese), vote on texts which run counter to the promises they have made and ultimately make sure that the texts voted upon are never applied. “It is exactly this type of behaviour which has led to tax fraud and tax evasion”, he said, referring to the widespread mistrust of the Greeks towards the political classes. Returning from a trip to Greece, Jean Arthuis (ALDE, France), expressed his doubts as to just how much the Greek MEPs have “taken ownership” of legislative texts voted on in haste to secure some financial breathing room.
The Liberals suggest a new approach in four pillars which would help to create an efficient State in Greece: - removing the financial, legal and administrative barriers to investment in Greece; - fighting cronyism by reforming an excessively politicised public opinion; modernising the legal system to make it more independent and more effective (for instance, creating a land register); - reform of the tax collection system. On this point, a stabilisation of the taxation rules is vital, according to the Liberals, who flag up the repeated changes to income tax.
Verhofstadt is not opposed to a more ambitious relief of Greek government debt than the debt management measures approved on Wednesday by the Eurogroup and as long as the process comes as part of an overall solution. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)