‘Complete Breakdown’ of Greek-EU Negotiations; Systemic Blowout Trigger Remains Cocked

PRESS RELEASE

‘Complete Breakdown’ of Greek-EU Negotiations; Systemic Blowout Trigger Remains Cocked

April 24, 2015 (EIRNS)—Friday's negotiations to meet the assumed deadline for Greece to reach an agreement with the Eurozone Finance Ministers on a debt and economic program, ended in acrimony, threats against Greece, and self-deluding chatter from the Trans-Atlantic crowd that their system, including the Euro, might survive an imminent Greek default.

Maltese Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said succinctly: "I would describe today's meeting as a complete breakdown in communication with Greece." Asked if the EU would agree to give partial EU financial assistance in exchange for a more limited program of "reforms," Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said: "No." Bloomberg's sources reported that the Finance Ministers "hurled abuse at Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis," calling him "a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur." European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi threatened that the European Central Bank may restrict its current funding of liquidity for Greek banks. (An ECB governing council meeting is set for May 6.)

An element of unpredictability, however, has been introduced by the one-hour private meeting between the Greek and German heads of state, Alexis Tspiras and Angela Merkel, the day before the finance ministers meeting. Merkel called the discussions "constructive," but said they agreed to keep the contents confidential. Tspiras spoke of optimism and significant progress, saying "we have covered a large part of the distance."

Whatever the two did or did not agree to, the banker-owned Finance Ministers made it known that they consider it unacceptable that heads of state dare meet independently to discuss any political solution to a matter which affects the banks. Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling was most up front:

"Tsipras sought to circumvent the Finance Ministers authority less than 24 hours earlier, pleading his case with German Chancellor and French President François Hollande on the sidelines of a summit on immigration in Brussels. Under euro-area procedures, it's the finance ministers who have to sign off on any aid disbursement, and Merkel said last month that she's not prepared to override those controls."

Their public ire targeted Tspiras, but such hysteria reflects their actual concern that Angela Merkel could break ranks. As leading economic forecaster Lyndon LaRouche has emphasized, Angela Merkel is no heroine, but she is smart enough to know that Germany cannot survive Greece leaving the euro.

Adding an unintentional note of humor to this existential brawl, Credit Suisse issued a note today titled "Greece: Die Another Day," reassuring themselves that Greece has the liquidity to survive "for another month or so.... And the government could stretch until July, if needed, when the ECB loans mature."