"European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Jyrki Katainen isproposing to dictate to member states, threatening to impose sanctions should theyrefuse to implement financial reforms imposed by Bruxelles:”, said on Wednesday 07 January S&D president Gianni Pittella.
Pittella added:"I urge president Juncker to reject this diabolical plan. It is not just illegal, it is alsopolitically unacceptable. I want to say openly: this plan could be the end of the Juncker´s Commission. President Juncker should stop Katainen before he causes irreversible damage.”
Many in Europe have expressed concern that if the left-wing Syriza party wins thismonth's general election in Greece, the new government may renege on terms of ahugelyexpensive international bailout plan. That has revived questions about Greece's fitness to stay in the euro.
On Monday, French president François Hollanderaised the possibility of Greece leaving the shared euro currency, but says that's adecision for "Greece alone" to make.
FrancoisHollandesaid on France-Inter radio Monday that Greece's new leaders "willhave to respect the commitments made by their country."
But he insisted that it's not up to others to say whether the result of the Greek votemeans they should or shouldn't keep using the euro currency.
That, he said, "is for Greece alone to decide.”
Evoking a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Germany and France are taking acoordinated and calculated risk in the hope of averting a leftist victory in Greece'sgeneral election on Jan. 25.
The intention, according to Michael Huether, head of Germany's IW economic institute,is to make clear that other euro area countries "can get on well without Greece, butGreece cannot get on without Europe", and to warn that the left-wing Syriza partywould bring disaster on the country.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, whose party leads in opinion polls, insists he wants tokeep Greece in the euro. However, he has promised to end austerity imposed by foreigncreditors under the country's bailout deal if he wins power, and wants part of the240 billion euros lent by the EU and IMF written off.
The risk is that the European Union's two main powers are seen by Greeks asinterfering and threatening them, provoking a backlash after a six-year recession thatshrunk theireconomyby 20 percent and put one in four workers out of a job.
French President Francois Hollande said on Monday it was up to the Greek people todecide whether they wanted to stay in the single currency, while a German magazinereported that Berlin no longer feared a "Grexit" would endanger the entire euro area.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman did not explicitly deny the weekend "DerSpiegel" report but said: "The aim has been to stabilise the euro zone with all itsmembers, including Greece. There has been no change in our stance."
Merkel and Hollande conferred by telephone during the winter holidays and will meet inStrasbourg on Sunday with European Parliament President Martin Schulz for what aFrench diplomatic source insisted were not crisis talks on Greece.
Should centre-right Prime Minister Antonis Samaras lose power in the election, the realissue was how a Syriza-led government might seek to reschedule Greece's debt, not itsplace in the euro, the French source said.
Paris and Berlin have underlined that any new government in Athens would have tohonour the country's obligation to repay the bailout loans received since 2010.
In an article in the Huffington Post, Tsipras accused German conservatives ofspreading "old wives' tales", singling out Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. Syriza,a coalition of former communist and independent leftist groups, "is not an ogre, or abig threat to Europe, but the voice of reason," he wrote.
Syriza's promise to reverse cuts in basic pensions and the minimum wage has wonsome sympathy inFranceand Italy, where centre-left governments are seeking morefiscal leeway from EU authorities to revive growth.
"The Greeks vote as they want, and whatever the vote the commitments made toEurope by Greece must be respected," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said onTuesday.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the centre-left Social Democrats,delivered an identical message.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/pittella-stop-dictating-greece