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Alfred Sant sheds doubt on Greece’s ability to repay bailout
Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant says contradictory European policies hinder Greece's ability to repay €130 billion bailout.
20 March 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
4 min read
Alfred Sant likened the Maltese parliament to a local council.
Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant slammed the way the eurozone was tackling the economic crisis and the Greek bailout and said that unless things were done differently, "Greece will never be able to repay the loans granted by the eurozone members."
Sant was speaking during the parliamentary debate on the Government Borrowing and Granting of Loans to the Hellenic Republic bill, in which parliament is expected to approve the second Greek bailout.
Earlier this month, the eurozone group approved Greece's second bailout of €130 billion. The bailout was granted on the condition that Greece reduces its debt from the current 160% of its GDP to 120.5% by 2020 and accepts permanent presence of EU monitors overseeing economic management.
Without the loan Greece would have fallen into bankruptcy by 20 March, when maturing loans should have been repaid.The deal also means that private holders of Greek debt will take losses of 53.5% on the value of their bonds.
But the Labour MP said that this will mean that contrary to the government's claims that Malta will make a marginal profit on the loans it has granted Greece, Malta will not see a penny back.
Sant said that Greece's ability to repay the loans it will receive from the eurozone members, including Malta's and the International Monetary Fund, was being hampered by a lack of a European-wide policy to achieve economic growth and the imposition of austerity measures which are "afflicting the most vulnerable sectors of Greek society."
He described the European policies as "contradictory" and "ironic."
"It seems that the eurozone believes that the only improve competitivity in Greece is by reducing wages and working conditions. As things stand it seems that this will not work. If so, I ask why should we grant Greece a second bailout?"
Sant insisted that the Greek reality is even worse than it is being portrayed and warned that if the austerity measures do not work it will mean that Greece will not achieve any growth and the loans will "probably go up in smoke".
On the European policies being adopted regarding the eurozone crisis, Sant said that it "seems that there is not enough impetus and concrete plans to achieve economic growth in Europe."
He added that the way the crisis is being tackled no balance will be reached between achieving growth and preventing Greece to "choke on austerity measures." He also warned that this could lead to an "explosion of rage in Europe if the cake is not shared equally,"
In regards to the approval of the bailout in the Maltese parliament, Sant said that the debate in the House of Representatives should be more "serious and thorough." He said that it is useless to have "shallow and artificial debates to rubber stamp a fait accompli."
"It is not enough to have the finance minister present the government's proposal as if there is no other alternative. Parliament should be briefed by ministry officials and by representatives of the Central Bank to get a full picture of what is happening not only in Greece but also in the eurozone," Sant said.
He added that if parliament held a proper debate, MPs can take an informed decision on the bailout based on what is really happening in Greece and the eurozone.
Sant likened the Maltese parliament to a local council and cited the Air Malta restructuring plan as an example. He said no debate was held and at times "it seems that journalists know what the situation is better than MPs."
On the ratification process, Sant said that compared to parliamentary procedures used in Germany and other European countries, Malta's procedure is "primitive." He said Malta should emulate the parliamentary procedures used in Denmark and Germany where parliament must approve the national government's position prior to European summits.
The former prime minister also lambasted the GonziPN system for its attitude in parliament. He said that the way discussions are held in parliament the government "just gets bills out of the way and gags the opposition." Sant said the government's delaying tactics in regards to discussing the Opposition's motion on justice and home affairs is a prime example of this attitude.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
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It- seems like Dr Sant is a good profit.
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The right-wing Popular Orthrodox Rally refused to endorse the measures. Next election his party would be in Power. And he payes no one. Greece is past the point of no return. Its debt load is simple to high and that now keep growing due to dropping GDP and acccumulating interest.
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Nice deal for Greece and bond holder-s bad for the rest of us. Here is a question. Why dont the bond holders capture Government owned assets to satisfy these loans or the short fall.
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If Dr Sant says so, then it is right. He has been proved to be right in most matters regarding the EU. I am in favour of the EU, but i cannot but admit that he was right and the PN misled the people. And the people believed the PN.
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One should heed to what Dr Sant is saying because it may effectively be true. The debt problem in Greece has become intricately woven with the Greek way of life and even with the austerity measures which the Greek govt. has in place there is obviously a limit on how much it control its debt mountain solely by what it can get back from the common people. The problem is that each time someone speaks up and raise doubts about the European issue is dabbed as anti-EU and that in order to avoid this all parliament members just vote in favour of more bailout money. After all, this European Utopia is proving to be quite different from what we were promised. Dr Sant is the only one who rightly says the "I told you so!"
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One should heed to what Dr Sant is saying because it may effectively be true. The debt problem in Greece has become intricately woven with the Greek way of life and even with the austerity measures which the Greek govt. has in place there is obviously a limit on how much it control its debt mountain solely by what it can get back from the common people. The problem is that each time someone speaks up and raise doubts about the European issue is dabbed as anti-EU and that in order to avoid this all parliament members just vote in favour of more bailout money. After all, this European Utopia is proving to be quite different from what we were promised. Dr Sant is the only one who rightly says the "I told you so!"
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Everybody KNOWS this, except the brainless twats in Brussels, that is.
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Dr. Alfred Sant again proves how right he was when, as prime minister, he wanted a partnership agreement with the EU but not full membership, certainly for a number of years, just as Switzerland and many other countries have. And also shows that he is the most informed MPs about what is actually happening in Greece and the eurozzone, and is not afraid to speak about the real situation !I vividly remember Tonio Fenech saying that the money we were giving to Greece were " a LOAN AND WITH INTEREST "!! We now look forward to the day when we are paid back WITH INTEREST - NEL ANNO MAI !!!! Eddy Privitera
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scathing criticism of the state of malta's democracy. Let's hope that a new government changes today's restricted style of governance, choosing to go for more dialogue allowing for informed decisions to be taken by MPs to the benefit of our people. There are a lot of MPs on the Government bench that just vote without really assessing and evaluating the issues at hand. that's a pity. representing a whole country is very demanding business and should be a full time job!!!
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We can kiss goodbye to the money lent to Greece. As they say, is-self telf.
Now even the Dutch have broken the new treaty rules, Italy is under watch, Spain has not managed to bring down the budget deficit as planned and Portugal is also going down the drain. And yet all our politicians still lick the EU AR$E$ and obey their commands.
Same thing happened on ACTA where our idiots signed it. Now the Commission has acknowledged that it made a mistake on ACTA.
Our fools certainly rush in where Angels fear to tread.
Luke Camilleri •
"Greece will never be able to repay the loans granted by the eurozone members." - Dr. Alfred Sant
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I have no doubt at all tha t Dr. Sant will be proven right again!
Just look at GO plc. investments in their Greek Subsidiary! Like the Maltese GO Shareholders who will not get the Gir divident, the Maltese Tax-Payer will not get any return on the country's "investment " in the Greek Bailout !
