The lies of the ruling circles and the inner logic of the crisis

When Angela Merkel declared last Monday that 'Europe survives because of its ability to compromise' - a statement that, given the current situation, sounds like a Monty Python joke - the so-called Vice-chancellor (SPD) spontaneously backed her (see here). The German Minister of Foreign Affairs (also SPD), who cannot be suspected of any expertise in economic questions, let the world know that he is 'stunned' by the position of the Greek Government. The President of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, emphasised that the package that SYRIZA rejected did not contain further austerity measures and that no one suggested any pension cuts. Martin Schulz (SPD), the President of the European Parliament, added that the package did not require VAT increases. They all declared that it is simply not possible to, once again, 'give' money to the Greeks without conditions, especially since Greece has not delivered on the previous ones. Peter Altmaier, the Chancellor’s right hand, shamelessly declared that Greece had failed to carry out reforms and that other countries which implemented the austerity packages have done much better in the meantime.

It is perhaps not so surprising that during times of crisis sheer lies and complete falsehoods become the mainstream of everyday politics. However, in this case, more is at stake than just everyday politics and something else is going on: the shameless ways in which the majority of the German media has been waging ideological warfare against the Greek government. I do not want to reiterate all that we have said and written in recent months on these issues. It seems important to me, however, to once again briefly explain the essence of the whole conundrum and its fundamental importance and to highlight the core of the ideological framework of the creditors and their institutions. With these ideological hardliners - on this SYRIZA is absolutely right - no compromise should be made but, unfortunately, is unavoidable if Greece wants to avoid the worst.