Dear Yanis Varoufakis, For five months, you have personified the hopes of many European citizens. You have brought a wind of intellectual rigor and honesty in the circle of gray men of the Eurogroup. You tried tenaciously to respect the mandate of Greek voters: breaking up with the austerity policies while remaining within the euro area. But late June, the zombies of the Eurogroup and the Council, reinforced by the isolation of Greece and weak solidarity movements in Europe, sent you an ultimatum: submit or leave the euro. The victory of the “no” in the July 5th referendum had reinforced your legitimacy to refuse the diktat of creditors. On July 13th you revealed |1| the proposal you made to Alexis Tsipras on the night of the referendum, “a triptych of actions” to avoid submission: “issue IOUs” (acknowledgments of debt in euros, that is to say a complementary currency based on tax revenues), “apply a haircut on Greek bonds” held by the ECB since 2012 in order to reduce the debt, and “take control of the Bank of Greece from the hands of the ECB.” But Alexis Tsipras refused this plan and accepted your resignation. On July 20th, at the Greek Parliament, … Continue reading
Category Archives: European Integration / Democracy
As a first (and hopefully not last) step towards an objective discussion of today’s situation of the European Union, outside of the logic of parties, parliamentary and “media” conflict, on 16th July there was, with the compliments of Mr. Paschalis and Mrs. Salomi Melissaris, a screening of an extract from the paper presented in 2009 by Mr. Ioannis Coccalas, entitled “From Altiero Spinelli’s Draft to the Treaty of Lisbon”. As Deputy Director of the European Parliament’s office in Athens, Mr Coccalas was at that time one of the speakers at the “Ioannis Capodistrias, Altiero Spinelli, Europe” conference held on 21st June 2009 in Aegina. An introduction to the 16th July screening was presented by Wayne Hall, member of the steering committee of the Aegina Association of Active Citizens. INTRODUCTION I would like us to be in agreement that in today’s discussion it will not be relevant whether we voted YES or NO in the referendum, whether it is mainly Simitis and Papandreou, Samaras and Venizelos, or Tsipras and Varoufakis who are most to blame for the present situation in Greece. I would like us to agree also that it is not going to be relevant today whether we prefer Greece … Continue reading
Mayor D. Mourtzis: What’s his name? Wayne Hall: Juergen Link. He is a professor of literature. Paschalis Melissaris: He took the initiative along with other university people to compose a text against the misrepresentation of Greeks in relation to what they have already…. W.H.: Essentially it is a protest against the stance of the mass media in Germany and how they reproduce enemy images Mayor: So in the person of Mr. Link we have someone who is a friend and an ally who is interested in our history… W.H.: He is a Philhellene and he started this movement before the elections… P.M.: It isn’t starting now… W.H.: Before the present government came in…. But there is a whole sequence of events after the appeal. An open letter to Mrs. Merkel and other messages to his supporters. For there are around 1,500-1,600 Germans and others supporting the initiative. But it is something that deserves an answer, a response, from Greece. Mayor: Should we invite them to a meeting? W.H.: As you can see…. This letter was written with support from three associations: the Aegina Association of Active Citizens, the Ioannis Capodistrias Cultural Association, the Aegina Women’s Association. Mr. Melissaris corrected the … Continue reading
Sunday, 23rd November 2008 17.55 From Aegina Portal (translated) An international conference whose style and content provide a glimpse of the importance of the island and its history was held in Aegina, with proceedings opening yesterday Saturday at the Hotel Danae. The international conference took place in the context of the celebration of the 180th anniversary of the swearing-in of Ioannis Capodistrias and forms part of the commemorative celebrations programmed for this year by the Municipality of Aegina. The promotion of the Capodistrias – Spinelli activities in relation to the European integration project began to be promoted approximately two years ago by Mr. Wayne Hall, both from within an informal group around the subject in question, and through the exchange of relevant correspondence and personal contacts with the Municipality of Aegina and other groups on the island with the potential for involvement. Yesterday’s conference emerged from an initiative by Messrs. Alexis Krauss and Wayne Hall, implemented by the Association of Active Citizens under the auspices of the Municipality of Aegina. The potential of this international conference was obvious from the moment it was announced, i.e. that it could significantly strengthen promotion of the content of Ioannis Capodistrias’ politics, which – … Continue reading