Like today, on December 10, 1893 the prime minister of Greece Charilaos Trikoupis officially admitted to the Greek parliament that the country was bankrupt. Trikoupis declares a suspension of payments and in the next period Greece passes under him International Financial Audit (IFA).

“Unfortunately, we got rich” is the well-known phrase of Trikoupis that went down in history reflecting the political and social developments of the time in the country, even though as a wording it is not recorded anywhere in the minutes of the Parliament but only in testimonies. The opposition and the press were quick to use this phrase to exploit the discontent of public opinion against Trikoupis, accusing him of being responsible for the bankruptcy of the country because of his economic program.

In any case, the phrase of Trikoupis has survived to this day, as it signals a fiscal deadlock or other form of failure, especially in economic matters of a national scale.

Although it is considered that the phrase was said from the floor of the Parliament, it is disputed that it was used by Trikoupis in his speech, as nothing of the sort emerges from the minutes of the Parliament. Various other testimonies, (such as the testimony of Andreas Syngrou in his Memoirs, who mentions that he heard Trikoupis utter the phrase in his speech that day), state that the phrase was normally said by him, but without it being clear whether it was said in Parliament or outside it.

In fact, this phrase was said by Trikoupis on the above date from the steps of the Parliament (Old Parliament), but not addressing the House of Parliament as an official declaration, but “in the course of his speech”, referring “in passing” to negotiations necessary for the lenders, who openly pressured the financial control of Greece, “that we must speak to them unfortunately we got rich” etc.

However, the opposition, taking advantage of this phrase in a partisan way, presented the prime minister as officially declaring the bankruptcy of Greece from the floor of the Parliament. This position was adopted by almost all the publications of the time to the point of even creating disappointment among the followers of X. Tricup. The extent to which this propaganda excessively favored the opposition at the time can be seen from the ironic, satirical character attributed to it and which was similarly used a myriad of times with the consequence that it remains historical to this day.

A similar phrase, slightly modified, was also used by Eleftherios Venizelos, when with his phrase “we are finally bankrupt” in May 1932, his government will once again declare Greece bankrupt, under the high debt of external borrowing, citing even the Asia Minor Catastrophe, which had occurred ten years before, but also the international economic recession from the Crash of 1929, when in reality it was an accumulation of many debts together from the beginning of the century.