{"id":8192,"date":"2018-08-08T19:33:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T19:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/?p=8192"},"modified":"2018-08-11T19:42:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T19:42:08","slug":"what-are-thegreekfiles-diem25-explains-mario-draghis-illegal-actions-against-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/?p=8192","title":{"rendered":"What are #TheGreekFiles? DIEM25 explains Mario Draghi’s illegal actions against Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0\"#TheGreekFiles\"<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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\nIn June 2015, the newly-elected Greek government was locked in tense negotiations with its creditors (the \u2018Troika\u2019 \u2013 the ECB, EC and IMF), doing what it had been voted in to do: renegotiate the country\u2019s public debt, fiscal policy and reform agenda, and save its people from the hardship of the most crushing austerity programme in modern history.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

The Troika knew they needed to make a drastic move to force the Greek government to capitulate.<\/strong> And that\u2019s just what they did: through the ECB, they took action to force Greece\u2019s banks to close, ultimately driving the Greek government \u2013 against its democratic mandate \u2013 to accept the country\u2019s third \u2018bailout\u2019, together with new austerity measures and new reductions in national sovereignty.<\/strong><\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

But in their haste, their zeal to crush the Greek government\u2019s resistance, the ECB feared their actions might be legally dubious. So they commissioned a private law firm<\/strong> to examine whether those decisions were legal. The legal opinion of this law firm is contained in #TheGreekFiles.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

In July 2015, the German MEP Fabio De Masi asked<\/a> Mario Draghi to release the legal opinion. Mario refused<\/a>, hiding behind \u2018attorney-client privilege\u2019. Clearly #TheGreekFiles contain something he doesn\u2019t want you to see.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

For a detailed account of the ECB\u2019s actions in this case, and how it likely acted outside of its mandate, see our eight-page backgrounder<\/a>.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

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Why should the ECB release the legal opinion?<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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One of the foremost experts on European Law, Professor Andreas Fischer-Lescano<\/a>, examined whether the ECB was right to refuse to release #TheGreekFiles. His detailed conclusion<\/a> leaves no room for doubt: the ECB has no case for withholding from MEPs and the citizens of Europe the legal opinion the ECB secured (and paid for using your money) regarding its own conduct.<\/strong><\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

But in addition to the legal imperative: in today\u2019s Eurozone, the power of the ECB to close down a member-state\u2019s banks violates every democratic principle.<\/strong> It also violates the ECB\u2019s own aspiration, and charter obligation, to be independent and above political strategising.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

We must all throw light on the lawfulness and propriety of ECB decision-making \u2013 beginning with this case \u2013 to give European democracy a chance, as well as to make the ECB less vulnerable to power politics.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 In June 2015, the newly-elected Greek government was locked in tense negotiations with its creditors (the \u2018Troika\u2019 \u2013 the ECB, EC and IMF), doing what it had been voted in to do: renegotiate the country\u2019s public debt, fiscal policy and reform agenda, and save its people from the hardship of the most crushing austerity … <\/p>\n

\u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7\u03c2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,12],"tags":[3,5,20,50],"class_list":["post-8192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21","category-12","tag-3","tag-5","tag-20","tag-50","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8193,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions\/8193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evaggelatos.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}