Greece...

antrobus

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Did the IMF payments for which they [STRIKE]defaulted[/STRIKE] were late on ever get paid?

Yes.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

..Or was that part of the bailout? All I remember is the IMF stating they couldn't lend to a country who already had a default on the last loan - but they appear to have done just that??

The IMF payments were funded by that emergency bridging loan of €7.2 billion that we didn't have to contribute to. Bailout version 3 will provide the funds to repay that bridging loan.

antrobus

antrobus wrote: »

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to call a snap election for 20 September, according to Greek media........

Confirmation. Tsipras has resigned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34007859

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Well that little socialist experiment has now been consigned to the dustbin of history.

1) Hard left party gets elected with unachievable promises.

2) Hard left party fails to deliver and leaves the country in a mess.

3) Hard left party resigns from government after just 7 months of chaos and calls elections.

I almost hope they get re-elected and are forced to clean up their own mess, rather than having to rely on the grown-ups to come in and clean up the mess for them, in a way I'd feel sorry for the Greeks if they did get back in but I suppose it'd be their own fault....

Generali

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Well that little socialist experiment has now been consigned to the dustbin of history.

1) Hard left party gets elected with unachievable promises.

2) Hard left party fails to deliver and leaves the country in a mess.

3) Hard left party resigns from government after just 7 months of chaos and calls elections.

I almost hope they get re-elected and are forced to clean up their own mess, rather than having to rely on the grown-ups to come in and clean up the mess for them, in a way I'd feel sorry for the Greeks if they did get back in but I suppose it'd be their own fault....

Well that's the thing with democracy, you get the politicians you deserve.

seven-day-weekend

I hope all the people here who want Corbyn for PM take note.......

buglawton

Tsipras has stated if he gets re elected he'll stay in the EU but leave the Euro.

antrobus

And Syriza has split. 25 leftist MPs have broken away to form Laiki Enotita.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34014083

Which is about the only thing that was certain about this whole affair. (That Syriza would split.)

Will Syriza now rename itself as the Coalition of the Not Really All That Radical Left?

ruggedtoast

Utter chaos in Greece. Greeks must be wondering what on earth is going on.

I doubt Tsipras will be missed, hard to see how he could have done a worse job or made more of a laughing stock of left wing politics.

antrobus

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Utter chaos in Greece. Greeks must be wondering what on earth is going on.

I doubt Tsipras will be missed, hard to see how he could have done a worse job or made more of a laughing stock of left wing politics.

You'd have thought so. But apparently he remains quite popular in Greece. And as far as I can make out, Syriza were still running at about 33% in the polls, despite the fact that they have bought the country to the edge of ruin. Of course, that was before the split, and it is unclear how much of that support will switch to Laiki Enotita.

Thrugelmir

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I doubt Tsipras will be missed, hard to see how he could have done a worse job or made more of a laughing stock of left wing politics.

At least he has been practical. Whatever his views. He was never going to force the EU to dance to his tune. In many ways due to this he has one respect. Greece was the winner.