Greek PM and Finance Minister Tell Eurogroup’s Dijsselbloem: Take a Hike

Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem held what appears to have been a very tense meeting in Athens on Friday in talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Dijsselbloem, along with the supposedly “tough” negotiator Thomas Wieser, who heads the Eurogroup Working Group, must have read the riot act to their European “partner,” after which Tsipras and Varoufakis showed them the door, since the meeting lasted less than 30 minutes.

The press conference that followed was reportedly filled with “electric tension” in the air. Dijsselbloem reiterated the EU line that Greece has to stick to its agreements and reject any idea of a debt conference, claiming that such a venue already exists: “It’s called the Eurogroup, as you know.”

Varoufakis stuck it to Dijsselbloem, saying the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) can stay home, and that Greece will only speak directly to the legitimate institutions of the EU and the IMF. He added, referring to the government’s policy of dumping the Troika,
“This platform enabled us to win the confidence of the Greek people. Our first action as a government will not be to reject the rationale of questioning this program through a request to extend it,”

and added that Athens will not accept a “self-fed crisis” of deflation and non-viable debt.

According to Reuters, Dijsselbloem looked enraged, bending forward to whisper something into Varoufakis’ ear, to which the Greek finance minister did not respond.

The meeting with Dijsselbloem followed a longer, but equally tense one on Jan. 29 between Tsipras and European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who afterwards told a press conference,

“There is a diplomatic phrase: ‘The talks were open and constructive.’ That is a phrase that is always used in press conferences when there has been a dispute. So that’s why I want to say here: Yes, the talks were open and constructive.”

Well-informed Greek sources told EIR yesterday that the Greek government will not compromise on the debt.

“They will not pay it. The European Union wants a compromise, but there is no compromise, we cannot pay,” said one.

He said it is not the Troika that is being told to stay home, but all the “advisors” who have been placed in the ministries have been told to pack their bags and get out of town. So he said it is up to the EU, they either change policy dramatically or Greece will repudiate the debt as onerous and illegitimate. Then the situation will take its course, and Greece leaves the Eurozone followed by other countries.