by [embedded content] By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com Greece’s economy suffered a new blow, contracting by 1.2% at the end of 2016, according to revised figures released earlier this week. The figures, published by the Greek statistics agency, Elstat, show it was the worst quarter since the summer of 2015, when the European Central Bank closed the Greek banks. The dramatic bank closures were viewed by many as part of the ‘Troika’ campaign to force Greece into a third bailout, complete with new austerity measures. But was closure process legal and within the ECB’s charter and mandate? ECB President Mario Draghi wasn’t sure; Draghi commissioned an independent legal opinion on this issue. Now, Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, and Fabio De Masi, a German, Die Linke MEP, have launched a public campaign demanding the immediate publication of Draghi’s legal opinion. EURACTIV’s Brian Maguire spoke with Varoufakis and De Masi about ECB transparency, the limitations of its mandate, and reform of the eurozone after the Treaty of Rome 60th anniversary celebrations this month.
Topics:
Yanis Varoufakis considers the following as important: Campaigning, DiEM25, English
This could be interesting, too:
Yanis Varoufakis writes Jamie Galbraith on DiEM-TV’s ‘Another Now’ discussing the “criminal incapacity of the elites”
Yanis Varoufakis writes A chronicle of our BLEAK TWENTIES – Cambridge Union Online
Yanis Varoufakis writes European Oligarchy Has Banned Transfer of Wealth to Poor: Interviewed by Vijay Prashad
Yanis Varoufakis writes Have Merkel & Macron just announced a eurobond-funded godsend for the EU? DiEM25’s view
By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com
Greece’s economy suffered a new blow, contracting by 1.2% at the end of 2016, according to revised figures released earlier this week. The figures, published by the Greek statistics agency, Elstat, show it was the worst quarter since the summer of 2015, when the European Central Bank closed the Greek banks. The dramatic bank closures were viewed by many as part of the ‘Troika’ campaign to force Greece into a third bailout, complete with new austerity measures. But was closure process legal and within the ECB’s charter and mandate? ECB President Mario Draghi wasn’t sure; Draghi commissioned an independent legal opinion on this issue. Now, Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, and Fabio De Masi, a German, Die Linke MEP, have launched a public campaign demanding the immediate publication of Draghi’s legal opinion. EURACTIV’s Brian Maguire spoke with Varoufakis and De Masi about ECB transparency, the limitations of its mandate, and reform of the eurozone after the Treaty of Rome 60th anniversary celebrations this month.