[lbo-talk] Building the case for a Greek default

[Marv Gandall]

Below, the link to an interview with Eric Toussaint outlining the legal and political basis for the Greek government to default on its “odious” debt to the IMF, European Central Bank, and European Commission (h/t Dayne Goodwin). The interview is required reading because Toussaint, a founder and spokesperson for the international Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt, has been invited by Syriza’s leadership to advise whether the debts incurred by previous governments are illegitimate. In the interview, he expresses the view that the loans were made in violation of both the EU and Greek constitutions. His comments could foreshadow and supply the rationale for an eventual Greek default. 

In preparation for a default, Toussaint considers the response of the courts and politicians less important than that Syriza make it widely known to the peoples of Europe ”that the money given by the Troika to Greece had only one aim: to immediately repay the private banks that were responsible for lending Greece money before 2010 without controlling Greece’s capacity to repay” and that “there are many lies, constructed and spread to falsify what really happened in Greece and to present the Greeks as lazy and corrupt”.

As he accurately notes, without “the massive support of citizens across Europe” the Syriza leadership will not be emboldened to default on its debts and the eurozone governments led by Germany will not be constrained from continuing to isolate and force Greece to submit.

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article3931