Tick Tock

For those who woke up late to the news, it is now official. After the Greek Government has managed to upset all of its European partners either through the provocative attitude of its political staff or through the nature of its demands in what seemed to be a legitimate effort to loosen the tight austerity measures and provide for some relief to the sufferring Greeks, our European friends are now relentless in demonstrating who is Master and who is Servant in this "New Old Arrangement". This is already noticeable by the method chosen for the way forward - the famous "Salami" method, which has been opted for just to underline the little "trust" that our partners have in Greece and the even lesser faith that we are sincere about honouring our commitments. Benefits will be released gradually and only if and when milestones in reforms are met. In reality terms, the consequence is that we have already been asked to return the 11,4 billion EUR that were made availalbe previously to the HFSF for the recapitalization of Greek Banks back to the EFSF, following a request made by Berlin. Now, we are hours away from the deadline given to provide our reforms-plan, acceptance of which constitutes a pre-condition for the extension of the bail-out programme. It is Germany, yet again, that poses the harshest resistance to our suggested plan and is essentially dictating the fate of things. And while voices have been raised right and left asking to understand the vendictive almost disposition of Germany, people in Greece are being further squeezed into doomsday scenaria and the initial enthusiasm for this new Government is now holding-up with substantial reservation. And as time goes by, what I am missing is the juvenile passion to drive this task to completion as it was demonstrated at the outset by this Government. By now, almost every one in this country has gone rid of the illusion that what happened last Friday was a huge Greek victory. There is upcoming opposition within the Government itself, which peaked yesterday, when a top member of the Government, the 93-year old heroic German Nazi resistance figure of Manolis Glezos, the very person who down-hauled the German flag from the Acropolis on the night of May 30-31, 1941, made a public statement apologizing from the Greek people for having misguided them prior to the elections of January 25, 2015. Greeks are waking up to the reality that aside from Varoufaki's arrogant behavior and his academic rhetoric about the World Economy, no tangible benefit has been achieved, which would allow for optimism. In other words, "the King is dead"..."long live the King"!

Post by Theodore Patsellis - PRP Law

tpatsellis@prp-law.com

Corporate Law and International Taxation Attorney with substantial international experience in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Baltic Region. High premium in providing preemptive legal and support in Greek, English or German. Additional focus on contract drafting, corporate and statutory compliance, corporate Governance and effective tax planning.