EUCommission Economy V.President Rehn to EuroFora: Debate Issues before EUElection (Cyprus, Greece+)

*Strasbourg/EU Parliament/Angelo Marcopolo/- Experienced EU Commission's vice-President for Economic and Monetary affairs, Olli Rehn from Finland, speaking to "EuroFora" after a Marathon meeting in EU Parliament's  Economic Committee where he replied to many MEPs' Questions on the famous "Troika" mechanism for Monitoring Countries under Financial Aid Programs, expressed the view that it's Normal to Debate Issues before the forthcoming EU Elections, just after having denounced the fact that Cyprus should have been Helped Earlier and/or with "Softer" Measures, while also advising Greece to focus now on Structural Reforms, mainly of its Public Administration, after starting recently a series of Positive Results, as a 1st Budget Primary Surplus :

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    -  "Yes. It's quite normal. I find it normal to do so", positively replied vice-President Rehn to "EuroFora"s question whether he was willing to participate, if he was elected by his Party, (that of Liberals, where he has also a strong competitor, in the name of former Belgium's Prime Minister, current Chairman of Liberal MEPsd, Guy Verhofstadt, etc), also in Public Debates between Candidates from different Political Groups to the post of New EU Commission's President in view of EU Parliament's Elections of May 2014 which are due to focus, for the 1st time, on the choice of New EU Commission's President for the period 2014-2019, that MEPs and Heads of State/Government will pick up during the Summer.

    When he was saying that, Rehn was certainly quite Aware of the obvious fact that one of the main Topical Issues expected to be hotly Debated in the run up to May 2014 EU Elections will almost certainly that of the way EU, its Member States and IMF have handled and are still handling Europe's response to the Global Crisis, and the way out of it, as well as the Perspectives for EU Economy in the foreseeable Future, that he had just been debating in EU Parliament with MEPs, during almost 2 Hours,  at one of the most important Hearings in an impressive Series organized throughout all this week's Session in Strasbourg, after and before Brussels, by a particularly active Chairwoman of the Economic and Monetary Committee, Brittish Liberal MEP Sharon Bowles.

 

    - Bowles had pointed from the outset to the "Dramatic", as she called it, dimensiion that a Delegation of MEPs shared with various local actors particularly during their recent Visit to Cyprus, after Portugal, etc, but left it all up to EU Parliament's Rapporteurs on the "Troika" issue : Austrian ChristianDemocrat Otmar Karas, and French Socialist Liem Hoang Ngoc, as well as to other participants, to express their own feelings in the course of the forthcoming Committee and Plenary Debates (during which, several MEPs started asking for "Responsibilities" among Officers and/or Politicians who had handled some thorny affairs), as well as Votes on the Karas-Huang Ngoc Draft Report, (that the competent Committee has scheduled to examine in Strasbourg on Thursday.

 

   - Rehn added fuel to various MEP's critical Questions on the exceptionaly Harsh Measures that Cyprus suddenly faced, without warning at the beginning of 2013 (i.e. most depositors' Bank Accounts having been Blocked and afterwards many heavily Amputated, for the 1st time in History, etc), in order to get EU's Help to face a Financial Crisis (notoriously aggravated by some repercussions of certain previous measures decided for Greece with a Negotiated "Hair Cut" on its Lenders' interests), mainly by making 3 points :

    (A) First of all, Cyprus should have asked andd be given an EU Aid Program much more Earlier than it did, because a Delay of more than 1,5 Year (thanks also to a Russian Loan, which helped a former Government to gain some Time, but without settling nothing among the Structural Imbalances which remained even afterwards), in fact, aggravated things.               

    (B) Rehn also replied in substance Positively to a MEP's Question about rumours that, at least some among those Responsible in the Past might have a kind of "Insider Knowledge" about the imminent, then, "HairCut" of Lenders' interests on the Debt of Greece, which costed a lot also to Cypriot Banks, (particularly Marfin, of Vgenopoulos, whose Athens' branch astonishingly was also set on Fire, during some Popular unrest, killing 3 simple Bank Employees wo were working inside, as EU Commission's vice-President Viviane Reding has recently reminded at another EU Parliament's Plenary Debates, about Fighting against Violence of Extremists from Both sides of the Political Spectrum, both Rightists and Leftists, earlier on Autumn 2013 (See relevant "EuroFora"s NewsReport : ...) : Even is the detailed Negotiations were held between Private Lenders (in fact, an International Consortium) and the Greek Government (then Giorgos Papandreou's PASOK), nevertheless, at least the Finance Ministers of all the 27 EU Member Countries (i.e. including Cyprus') participating at EuroGroup meetings were, indeed, informed, at least on the main points of what was going on, the competent EU Commissioner observed in this regard.

    (C) Last but not least : EU Commission was, then, ready and willing to propose much more "Softer" Measures for Cyprus, than what was finally decided mainly by the €uroGroup, (i.e. mainly the Unprecedented Cuts in all Private Deposits at Cyprus' Banks, even Foreign, whenever the entrusted Money was over a Minimal Sum, etc), which had, meanwhile, lost its Experienced, long-time President, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and Finance Minister for Decades, Jean-Claude Juncker, a ChristianDemocrat, replaced, since the Beginning of 2013, by the new Socialist Dutch Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, a former specialist of Agricultural/Fichery issues as well as Education/Family-LGBTI matters, surprizing almost everybody by so Harsh Decision, (curiously taken even too close to the Dates of an exceptional visit to the Netherlands by controversial Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan) for the 1st time, (which apparently dissuaded even more other EU Countries as f.ex. Spain and/or Italy, etc., from even asking EU's Help after that precedent)..

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    + Inevitably Questioned heavily by several MEPs also about Greece and Portugal, etc, Rehn replied, in particular, that, concerning Athens, there is recently "Progress achieved in Greece", with several "Positive Developments" that "it's important to underline", without focusing only on "Excessive Pessimism", as some tend to do.

    In particular, even if  "the Economic Situation continues to be Challenging", nevertheless, "the Measures taken, are Starting to mark a Turn-around", he stressed in reply to a Question by experienced former EU Parliament's 1st vice-President, Greek EPP MEP Rodi Kratsa :

    - F.ex. "Return to Growth is expected this year (2014), after years or Recession, Government Costs have fallen, Investors' Sentiment keeps Improving, the Current Accounts' Deficit has Fallen significantly over the last three years,  and, thanks to the likely delivery of a Primary Budget Surplus, Greece's Debt to GDP Ration is set to Start Declining Next Year (2015), and to Fall subsequently", while also "Greece has undertaken a Bold and Ambitious Fiscal Adjustment in recent years", and "the ReCapitalisation of Banks, after a Consolidation in a very Short period of Time, is Progressing", etc., the competent EU Commissioner observed.

    => But, Rehn also advised Athens to "now, step Up the Structural Reforms", which are "Crucial to revigorate the Economic Recovery and create New Jobs", as he said. I.e., pointing, in particular, on "what should be done now", f.ex. "in Privatisation, Tax Reform, Public Administration", etc., which, if it had been done before, then, Greece would have already been now Better off", as he concluded,  (apparently indicating mainly the notorious issue of the surnumerary and largely counter-productive Cushy Job Holders and/or unpopular, Abusive, often Corrupted Political Lackeys scandalously appointed as State employees by former Clientelist/Nepotist Governments mainly of PASOK during the period 1981-2011+ which provoked the Huge Debt, where, despite some recent attempts for Progress, attracting a growing and vivid Popular Support, accompagnied by a strong Feeling among most Greek People for a Vital Need of doing Justice vis a vis manifold Corruption and/or other Crimes, Abuses, Injustices, etc. committed during that same period of 30 years which provoked the Debt,  nevertheless, due to some Political Blockades by some, notoriously hasn't yet achieved the necessary level, -only Hope, in fact, for a Solution able to ally Economic Efficiency and Socio-Political Justice, in a way which succeeds to make one help the other, in a Virtuous circle, i.e. also by lowering State's costs f.ex. through an Anti-Corruption and/or Anti-Abuses Purge, without Bureaucratic Time Limits, but by adequately Combining Efficiency with Moral Values and Justice, while also ensuring to all innocent People at least a Minimal Livelihood, Comp. "EuroFora"s relevant publications since December 2009). 

    Was it for such purposes, both in Greece and/or in other EU Countries, mutatis-mutandis, that the  competent EU Commission's vice-President, the experienced Rehn, had decided Today to clearly declare from the outset that, in principle, in all EU's Actions helping Member Countries to face and get out of the Gobal Crisis, "Social Fairness has to gio Hand by Hand with Economic Efficiency", (even in "Tax systems", etc)  ?...