For the co-government period Samara-Venizelouher role Angela Merkelhis famous negotiation Alexis Tsipras in 2015, but also the scenarios that present him as the next President of the Republic he spoke in an interview on his radio and to Vasilis Chiotis and Noti Papadopoulos today the governor of the Bank of Greece, Giannis Stournaras

“I have respect for Merkel”

I have respect for Merkel because she ultimately contributed to saving Greece, and things are judged by the result, but the spring of 2014 was the last time the International Monetary Fund disbursed a tranche” Mr. Stournaras, adding:

“Very good things were done during Samara’s prime ministership, now history will write the rest. Greece really narrowly escaped, Merkel finally played a very important role in saving Greece, so I look at her with respect but it doesn’t mean that everything she says is right.” In fact, referring to the background with the so-called “time-out” proposed by the then German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, he revealed that “if Greece were to leave the Euro then, it would become Syria”.

Third memorandum

In response to a question about whether it was a foul on the part of the lenders that in 2014 they did not give the “green light” to exit the Memorandum, despite the fact that Greece had made all the necessary moves, and were waiting for Alexis Tsipras, Mr. Stournaras agreed, characterizing this move as the “biggest foul”, since the condition that had been set in our country by the Eurogroup was when we catch a primary surplus, then there would be a “restructuring” of debt, a reduction in interest rates.

“Then Germany had European elections and they didn’t want to do it, so we tried to find every excuse. The second justification was that if we did it now, if this government falls and another more unruly one comes, we will have no more weapons in our hands. But in the end, because everything is judged by the result, if we had done it then, maybe there would have been no need for the third memorandum, which was perhaps the harshest of all”, underlined the governor of the Bank of Greece.

Responding to Alexis Tsipras’ claim that his negotiation did not cost 100 billion, Mr. Stournaras referred to the Public Debt Sustainability Analysis by the IMF at the end of 2014 and this one at the end of the first half of 2015. “I lived this, no one can tell me that it is not so, I lived it on my back. Very few know what we went through then, so it’s only natural that I feel a sensitivity about these matters. But I know that in the end it’s all good, everything is fine and we’re getting to the point of being a model for both Germany and France.”

Scenarios for President of the Republic

At the same time, regarding the scenarios that present him as the next President of the Republic, he was unequivocal. “The country has a president who is very good in my opinion, if you want my opinion as far as I can speak, and the country has a central banker who likes the job he does.”

Banks – commissions

On the issue of banks and supplies, Mr. Stournaras noted that “the commissions that banks get are not only commissions from money transfers, from ATM withdrawals related to the measures, they are also commissions from investment banking from portfolio management, so you cannot interfere with them, these are fees that for jobs they do. So believe me the measures are correct, measured and priced. Maybe the banks have also fallen a bit victim to their own rhetoric that everything is going perfectly, that they have very big profits.”

He also noted that “they only have profits recently. Of course, they must make profits and to a very large extent their profits are the result of the monetary policy we follow at the European Central Bank. Don’t forget that in previous years there were also big losses”

“Half of the capital of the banks, precisely because of the haircut of the bonds, because of the red loans, is not paid-up capital yet, it is a claim against the Greek public that they have, this is called deferred taxation. They pay but are offset against the obligation that the public has towards them. So now we want the profits that make up a part of these profits, they must definitely go to dividends because people invested in the Greek banks. The Financial Stability Fund sold shares, we cannot tell the shareholders that you will never get a dividend. So a piece will go to a dividend. A portion of course goes to amortization of deferred tax and one goes to capital appreciation. So they must achieve all three of these together.

I believe that the minimum conditions for a consensus on economic policy are to have fiscal responsibility, that is, to have a primary fiscal surplus of 2-2.5% of GDP every year, like what we have now. Secondly, to take care of financial stability, that is, the stability of the banking system so that we can protect deposits because one of the great achievements over the years was that not a single euro was lost in deposits even from the most remote cooperative bank. Thirdly, we must make the necessary reforms in order to increase the productivity of the economy and finally to cover the investment gap, that is, to make investments to reach the European average. We have to do these four things,” he emphasized.

Interest rates

Referring also to the issue of interest rates, he noted that “we have made four reductions at the European Central Bank, we have dropped from 4% that was in June to 3%, this is the base interest rate. The Banks pass it on to the interest rates, they are obliged, and the Bank of Greece is monitoring exactly this reduction, because the interest rates are fluctuating, so the reduction is mandatory and I also expect another 100 basis points to be made, that is, to reach close to 2% towards in the autumn, barring any unforeseen circumstances – and we will see what these unforeseen circumstances may be, I mean in Europe and America – around 2% for the basics to fall Central Bank interest rates, around the fall of 2025. The borrower will see that immediately.”

Fears about the Trump presidency

He also noted that “we are afraid of the Trump presidency”, because, as he explained, “if Trump implements what he said during the campaign, that he will put tariffs, reduce corporate taxes in America, deport immigrants, so these are an explosive mixture and it enters over a situation where the debt of the United States is currently increasing rapidly. Many say that it doesn’t matter because the dollar is behind, but they forget that the dollar is the basis of the system, because it is precisely based on a safe asset that is the bonds and interest-bearing notes of the American Treasury, if these weaken it will weaken for a long time and the dollar that is. Europe should appoint someone to negotiate. A war is always a very unpleasant development, of course because there is a loss of life but also in the economy, i.e. Europe entered a crisis because of the war in Ukraine”.