But for the Greek Armed Forces?
This seems a rather outlandish idea but New Europe Online ran a story today about strings attached to the Greek bailout loan.
When, in late October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with the-then Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to grant Greece the €110 billion mega-loan, the latter agreed, in return for the loan, to purchase military supplies from Germany and France, worth €10.5bn.
The purchases made were to be in equal parts between Germany and France. The hardware to be purchased, according to Athens sources close to Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy party included frigate war ships, Leopard tanks from Germany and Rafale combat aircrafts from France.
It would be incredible if true for any number of reasons but if it does come to pass, is the UK on the hook for any part of the bailout loan?
If so, it would be a bitter pill for the UK to swallow, cutting numbers and capabilities whilst ponying up for someone else to get the benefits of the kit and Germany and France to get the benefits of our contribution to the loan.
hmmm weren’t the septics “giving” them 400 M1′s and between 75-100 AAV-7′s seems the way to a fully equipped army is to declare yourself bankrupt!
I’m no coperate lawyer, but doesn’t this smack of some sort of bribe? If it is true it fu*king stinks and yet again germany living up to the bully boys of europe tag.
There is still stuff to come out of the wood works – old deals, that is
- nuclear power stations not paid in hard currency (ie. from the days before the Greeks were in euro)… also there was talk of the same in arms deals (whether they ever were signed?)
- these “news” could be just conversions of existing liabilities… put a bit of new hardware on top; the dusting will do away with what is under?
This is not news, it has been reported for months and goes back to the original loan which was conned together when moronic European leaders thought the Greek debt crisis was a storm in a small tea cup that would be over in a few months. Supposedly there are some FREMM frigates in with the bargain. How long this actually lasts is anybody’s guess. It goes without saying that the Eurozone crisis has become demonstrably worse since then and what seemed like a clever bit of international blackmail at the time may be being seen as increasingly stupid and counter-productive. Check todays Spanish bond yields, 10 year paper was at 6.64%. One suspects that France and Germany now have more important things on their minds than pork barreling their defence industry.
lol I dont belive it… this story doesnt ring right, since when did greece pay up for anything?
Besides, they have a reasonable air force as it stands, with aircraft (F-16) that are pretty ‘cheap’ to run compared with rafale… also not tomention they already fly french aircraft (Mirage 2000)…
Though a Greek deal on Typhoon was very close… but lack-o-funds canned it.
The Greeks have dodged paying for some arms that they have imported. the Typ 214 SSKs, for example.
I didn’t see the exact conditions, but it might be that the sum covers
(1) expenses for deals that were already done a while ago, but not paid for properly
(2) expenses that would occur anyway unless the Greeks disarm unilaterally
It might have been meant as a smart move, signalling support for Greece towards the financial markets and still making sure that some of the money flows back (and not just to the domestic banks).
The whole handling of the Greek fiscal crisis is a story of incompetence anyway. People don’t seem to understand that keeping the fiscal troubles in check means nothing unless long-term issues are solved. The Greeks need to leave the fixed exchange rate system that the Euro is and they need a domestic central bank as lender of last resort.
Yes, the Mirage deal was partly paid for by a 20 year tobacco swap (Libya rebels got their cash through oil swaps)
- is twenty years up yet on that deal?
This is nothing unusual, never mind illegal!
Have a look at middle east states (with the exception of Israel), the oils states bought NATO kit for cash, the rest bought Soviet Kit on credit.
Always dangerous, because its rarely paid for in the long term.
Some theorise that capitalism needs arms sales to make up for volumes that cannot be sustained by consumer spending alone.
x, given what a small proportion of govt spending capitalists tend to spend on defense, especially compared to communists, the “some” must have been smoking crack
X
Most “capitalists” are in fact, Corporatists.
As are most “communists” for that matter
“Surplus Production” that must be “wasted” on battleships has no basis in reality, just central banks.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/less-healthcare-but-greece-is-still-buying-guns-6257753.html?origin=internalSearch
Butter makes us fat. Guns make us strong.
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/
Igf anyones deeply interested in the head line figures, that site is essential.
If depressing.
Education is fourth, behind paying the unemployed to stay at home, the sick not to die, and the old to hang on.
Mental.
Very compassionate Dom!
Define compassion?
I dont see how giving a kidney transplant to a 90 year old is more compassionate than giving an education to a 9 year old.
I thought Greece had some old American tanks only delivered recently?
I wouldn’t be surprised at this, just certain EU members looking out for themselves and not the rest, no change there then.
Well I was just making a facetious comment. But, since you ask the question, the pension scheme and NHS don’t spend all their money on transplanting kidneys into 90 year olds. In fact, to get serious, the transplant list I believe is based on cost benefit analysis ie not many 90 year olds get kidney transplants.
But anyway! Most of those pensions have been paid for, in fact they all have pretty much. That website is also quaintly lumping in disability payments with pensions, so I’m afraid, there’s some people with bad backs and depression in that pot of money. You may now feel more depressed.
Who are the Greeks defending themselves against anyway? Surely not Turkey?
And what about keeping people warm in winter?
Last winter in England and Wales, over 21,000 pensioners died as a result of the cold conditions!
In a first world country that is truly shocking.
Alan,
That is what you get in a socialist state.
Pensioners are not hard done by even if they’ve never paid a penny in tax or contributions their whole life.
Nothing wrong with a pinch of well placed socialism. Not everyone is born an intelligent Adonis. The current system is destroying this country at a fast rate of knots however. But that’s less to do with how much is spent and more to do with how it’s spent.
The UK has only stumped up money as a member of the IMF; UK involvement in a European bail-out, through the European Financial Stability Mechanism, has been Dave’s ‘red line’ issue.
Though the Germans were keen to get us involved over the summer, most of the Greek loan involves bilateral agreements between France & Greece and Germany & Greece, it’s only fair that they take steps to cover their arses as far as possible.
I fail to see how pensioners dying of the cold is the result of a socialist state, given that all the energy companies are privately owned and yet the government still gives people an additional allowance for winter fuel.
There are many reasons why pensioners die in winter, the semi-socialist state is not one of them.
The UK has not contributed to the Greek Rescue. Only the Irish one as a one off unilateral loan of EUR 7 billion.
Phil,
“Not everyone is born an intelligent Adonis”
As you so frequently demonstrate.
Gosh no manners these days. Insults before introductions. I’ll go back to licking a mini bus window you’ve hurt my feelings so.
Greece is broke, but is still planning to take on 400 Abrams M1A1 that the US are willing to gift them, and increase the equipment budget from 600 million euro to 1 billion next year.
And they only are cutting 1.4% of the running military budget.
Talk about different priorities from nation to nation.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=8501223&c=EUR&s=TOP