Tsipras caves in to German demands and the EU demands €1bn from the UK to bail out Greece

Alexis Tsipras caved in to German demands yesterday which will see the confiscation of €50bn of state-owned assets and the proceeds of their sale given back to Greece in the form of loans.

The humiliating agreement was designed to punish the Greek people for defying the EU in a referendum and to destabilise the government of Alexis Tsipras. It also includes cuts to pensions, raising taxes and cutting back on the generous perks of public sector workers which, whilst perfectly sensible for a country with such a disfunctional economy, were absolutely not what the Greek people voted for.

The agreement says that the €50bn raised from confiscating Greek assets will be managed by an "existing external and independent fund like the Institution for Growth in Luxembourg". The Institution for Growth was created to manage the Marshall Plan fund that rebuilt Germany after the second world war and is better capitalised than the World Bank. The report doesn't mention that the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, who was instrumental in writing the agreement is a director of the Institution for Growth in Luxembourg.

This isn't just a coup, it's a huge fraud and to top it all off the British government have been told that UK taxpayer will be on the hook for €1bn worth of the bailout money despite David Cameron claiming to have protected us from having to bail out the €uro ever again!

Yeah, not so hopeful any more, eh?

Germany attempting another coup d'état in Greece #ThisIsACoup

Angela Merkel is attempting a coup d'état in Greece, demanding the surrender of €50bn of assets from the Greek government, the installation of bureaucrats from the troika who would have to be consulted on all relevant draft bills put before the Greek parliament and the repeal of all legislation since the election that hasn't been agreed by the troika.

Alexis Tsipras caved in last week, agreeing to all the demands of the German-led troika despite the Greek people rejecting them in a referendum, sparking protests in Athens. But this isn't enough any more, Alexis Tsipras has shown that the EU - and more importantly, Germany - can be defied and the punishment for that is to overthrow him and install a puppet government.

The Germans have already executed one coup détat in Greece in 2012 when former prime minister George Papandreou was ousted for offering a referendum on bailout austerity measures and the former governor of the EU Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, was appointed in his place. They also engineered a coup in Italy, installing former EU Commissioner Mario Monti as prime minister and an entire cabinet of unelected technocrats to oversee the implementation of EU austerity measures and of course the coup in Ukraine earlier this year where the EU sponsored the anti-government protesters who overthrew the government and precipitated a chain of events that has seen Russia annex Crimea and fascist militia working for the government in eastern Ukraine.

There will be no deal with Greece until Alexis Tsipras has been overthrown, Syriza removed from government and Greece is run by a German puppet.

Genius

Tsipras abused at the EU Parliament by MEPs

Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, was given a mixed reception in the EU Parliament today receiving both cheers and boos from MEPs.

The leader of the European Peoples' Party, Manfred Weber, told Tsipras that he was "destroying confidence in Europe" whilst Guy Verhofstadt, the former Prime Minister of Belgium and now a federalist Liberal MEP, told Tsipras he was "angry" and called him "an electoral accident".

It wasn't all abuse for Tsipras though, he got words of encouragement from MEPs including Nigel Farage whilst others took the opportunity to denounce the EU.

Greece has been given until Sunday to come up with an acceptable proposal to access more loans it can't afford to pay back or it will be ejected from the €uro. Unfortunately, it looks like Alexis Tsipras isn't as brave as everyone thought he was and Greece will commit to implementing more EU austerity measures tomorrow.

Tsipras holds all the cards, let's see how brave he is

The final result of yesterday's Greek bailout referendum was 61.31% No, 38.69% Yes with a turnout of 62.5%. This was an emphatic win for Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras who staked his career on the outcome and a blow to the opposition New Democracy whose leader, Antonis Samaras, has resigned.

European markets have yet to open but the impact on Asian markets has been muted. The €uro has predictably declined against the dollar but there has been no catastrophic devaluation overnight as the doom mongers were predicting.

Germany and France are having their own private meeting today before attending an emergency meeting of the €urogroup tomorrow where they will tell them what they've decided is going to happen. Merkel is under pressure to kick the Greeks out of the €uro but France is on the hook for a lot of Greek bailout money that they can't afford to lose.

Tsipras holds all the cards now. He has a mandate to reject the unsustainable and damaging EU bailout terms and if that means they get thrown out of the €uro and even the EU, the Greeks will be better off. Greece has nothing to lose.

Now we just need to see how brave Alexis Tsipras is.

Alexis Tsipras calls bailout referendum

The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has called a referendum on what describes the "unbearable" bailout plan the EU and IMF are offering.

Greece is due to make a consolidated payment to the IMF at the end of this month but doesn't have the money to so. Even if the Greeks vote to accept the bailout terms on July 5th, there's no guarantee they'll get the money as they'll have already gone into arrears with the IMF.

There is no hope of the Greeks ever paying their debts and recovering from their current financial crisis whilst they remain members of the EU and the €urozone. The best thing the Greek people can do is vote no to the bailout and leave both the single currency and the EU and pursue an Icelandic-style recovery.

Alexis Tsipras is an unlikely hero for eurosceptics

The German Vice-Chancellor has warned that "not only is time running out, but so too is patience across Europe" as the Germans have failed once more to force the Greek government to break their election promises in exchange for more debt.

Left wing Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has become an unlikely hero for eurosceptics across the continent. It's certainly not his commitment to increased public spending and Greek membership of the EU that's earned the admiration of people from across the political spectrum but his refusal to roll over and be bullied by the Germans. The latest red line - no cuts to unaffordably generous state pensions - is irresponsible but it is a decision made by the democratically elected government of Greece and to any right-thinking democrat that trumps the demands of the unelected EU, ECB and IMF.

The best thing that can happen to Greece now is a default on its austerity-era loans, an exit from the €uro and leaving the EU. Greece is unable to give preferential creditor status to secure cheaper loans from non-EU countries while it remains a member of the EU and whilst tied into the single currency it is unable to devalue to attract foreign investment and boost domestic markets. Greece doesn't need the EU and the EU doesn't need Greece.

Greece hasn't been German since the second world war. Jog on Merkel.