Saknar du också en enkel introduktion till Greklands finanskris? I en serie inlägg som publiceras här på bloggen diskuteras många av de frågor och påstående som Greklandskrisen givit upphov till. Vanliga påstående granskas och sätts i sitt sammanhang. Texterna är hämtade från «Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks»: 20 popular fallacies concerning the debt crisis, utgiven av Rosa Luxemburgstiftelsen. Texten utgår från Tysklands roll, men mycket av det som förekommer i den tyska diskussionen har förekommit i svensk press också.

«NO GERMAN TAX EUROS FOR GREECE!»(1)

The facts: The first aid package for Greece from the year 2010 contained a German share of around 22 billion euros. Context: Dobrindt is right. It is not the much-quoted taxpayer who is «helping» Greece. The German government does not take the money for Athens from the national budget or from tax income, but borrows this money at interest rates of 1 % to 3 % and lends it further to coun- tries in a state of crisis – including penalty interest. Athens must pay 4.2% for this «aid», while Ireland pays 5.8% and Portugal between 5.5% and 6%. This is a good business proposition for the German «taxpayer». The difference in interest means that an estimated 500 million euros will flow into the country (2) – under the proviso, however, that the crisis states can pay back their debts. As such, the BILD news- paper is right when it headlines with «You Greeks are getting nothing from us!»(39). It’s the other way round – it is actually Greece who will foot the bill in the end.

«WE [GERMANY] ARE THE PAYMASTERS OF EUROPE»(4)

The facts: [See above]

Context: As the German government grants Greece aid in the form of loans, this money has not been «given away». It will come back again plus interest. However, the debt crisis facing some periphery states has more advantages for Germany, because German government bonds are seen as «safe havens» among investors. The result is that all investors are eager to buy up German government bonds. Which is why the German government has no problem finding financial backers, if it wants to borrow money. The result of this is that the interest the German government has to pay to its creditors is very low. In earlier phases where there was an economic upswing, the German government had to pay its creditors significantly higher interest. Now, however, the Euro crisis is making German government bonds attractive, which reduces the rate of interest and saves the German Minister of Finance money. The estimated annual savings from this are 3.5 billion euros (5). The «aid» for states like Greece, Ireland or Portugal, by the way, is not a donation and not an act of friendship. In reality, the money is not flowing in order to help the Greeks, but in order to prevent other countries from damage. The Euro Group formulated this explicitly in the resolution of the ESM, the Euro’s permanent protector, in March 2011: «The member states that have the Euro as their currency shall establish a stability mechanism, which will be activated when this is unavoidable to secure the stability of the Eurozone as a whole.» This means that the loans given as aid to countries in a state of crisis are not there to help the overindebted country, but to protect the rest of the Eurozone from the consequences of this overindebtedness. It is there to protect the creditors from the debtors.

(1) Alexander Dobrindt, CSU, in BILD newspaper, 5.3.2010

(2) Financial Times Germany, 20.5.2011

(3) BILD newspaper, 5.3.2010

(4) BILD newspaper, 25.2.2011

(5) Financial Times Germany, 20.5.2011

Engelsk text: Stephan Kaufmann: «Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks»: 20 popular fallacies concerning the debt crisis, utgiven av Rosa Luxemburgstiftelsen. Sid 18-19

Greklands kris är en kris för hela Euro-samarbetet. Om valutan ska vara stabil förutsätter det att de länder Euron vilar på också är stabila. Därför påverkar utvecklingen i Grekland framtiden för hela Euro-samarbetet. Ovanstående text fokuserar på Tysklands roll som är den största aktören inom EMU. Men alla länder inom EMU tvingas ta ställning till hur krisen ska lösas och det finns flera alternativ. Om detta har Erik Bengtsson, skrivet två omfattande inlägg: Grekisk hjärngympa och uppföljande Mer om Europas kris här på bloggen.

Detta är det sista inlägget i serien. För dig som vill läsa alla i ordning rekommenderas skriften från RLS som texterna är hämtade ifrån.