International

The Netherlands must not send any more money to Greece as long as there is no prospect of the country paying off its debts. ‘If you talk to someone who works for a debt advice agency they’ll tell you – nobody has ever got out of debt by being given a new credit card. Stop treating people like fools and get to grips with this,’ SP leader Emile Roemer told Prime Minister Mark Rutte today. The SP wants to see the restructuring of Greek debt begin immediately in order to avoid still more taxpayers’ money being flushed down the grid.

The SP’s fear is that taxpayers’ money loaned to Greece will never find its way back. “The money that the government wants to send to Greece will run just a lap round the Acropolis before landing right in the coffers of German and French banks,” Roemer said.

The SP leader went on to say that the way the eurocrisis was being dealt with and the austerity policies in Greece were typical of the decisions made by the current Dutch government, “which still always opts to protect the interests of the banks at the expense of those of the taxpayers.”

Debt restructuring would mean that those who loaned the money to Greece, mainly banks and other financial institutions, would not get all of their money back. Both creditors – banks – and debtor – Greece – incur a responsibility when a loan is arranged. So it’s not so strange to ask the financial sector to make a contribution to solving the Greek problems. The longer, however, we wait to see the reduction of the debts, the more the banks, hedge funds and other loan-providers will withdraw, and private debt will be replaced by a public debt. “The banks and hedge funds have pulled their heads out of the noose and stuck ours in their place,” said Roemer. “So we’ll pay the debts in full and not get a red cent back.”