by Tyler Durden
February 24, 2015
from ZeroHedge Website

Spanish version


 

 

As we noted earlier today, there was some confusion over the plight of the Greek reform proposal document, which initially was said to have been delayed until today, only for the Troika (the EU, the ECB, and the IMF), pardon..., Institutions, to flip around and say they had actually received it before midnight on Monday.

 

How could the two be possible?

 

Courtesy of Yannis Koutsomitis, who had the simple but profound idea of looking at the properties tab in the leaked Varoufakis draft of the agreed to proposals, we now know.

 

As it turns out, the reason why not only the Troika received an agreed to version of the Greek reform proposals "before midnight on Monday", but rushed these through with a favorable agreement today, is that, drumroll, the European Commission drafted the entire letter!

 

 

 

 

All Yanis Varoufakis had to do was agree to the letter that the Troika had previously written and agreed in advance was agreeable to it, and send it back. The skeptics are encouraged to play around the original PDF "leak" found here.

 

As for the actual author of the "Greek" reform package, a document which was created at 10:09 pm on Monday, February 23, 2015 (so technically, yes, before midnight on Monday) was one Declan Costello of the European Commission.

 

Who is Declan?

 

Here is his bio courtesy of the CEPR's Policy Portal, VOX:

 

Declan Costello

 

Declan Costello is an Economist working in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission since 1991.

 

Currently he is Head of Unit in the department responsible for the 'Coordination of Structural Reforms and of the Economic Service,' which is involved in developing the economic framework for analyzing progress with structural reforms at EU and Member State level towards raising growth potential (the so-called Lisbon strategy), and developing EU policies in response to the economic crisis.

 

Prior to this, he was Head of Unit dealing with economic analysis of labour markets and social welfare systems, where he coordinated a project to make projections on the economic and budgetary impact of ageing populations for EU Member States.

 

He has a degree in economics from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters degree for the College of Europe, Bruges.

 

Representing the European Commission, Mr. Costello is also an alternate member of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) which advises and prepares the EU's Council of Economics and Finance Ministers (ECOFIN).

But the biggest joke in all this?

 

As the FT's Peter Spiegel revealed, the IMF, which is an integral part of the Institutional Troika, now pretends to not be on board with the very letter it helped draft (and one doesn't need to believe the PDF story above for that: after all all parties have said they cooperated over the weekend when drafting the final version of the letter) just to give the process some aura of 'legitimacy':

 


Letter by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to the President of the Euro Group on Greece
Press Release No. 15/71
February 23, 2015

The Honorable Jeroen Dijsselbloem
President of the Eurogroup
Finance Minister
Kingdom of the Netherlands

Dear Jeroen,

My Staff has reviewed the list of measures that the Greek authorities prepared over the weekend. We think that it covers the broad topics that should be on the new Government’s agenda.

 

In view of this, we would certainly be able to support the conclusion that the list “is sufficiently comprehensive to be a valid starting point for a successful conclusion of the review,” as called for by the Euro Group at its last meeting. But a determination in this regard should of course rest primarily on an assessment by Member States themselves and by the relevant European institutions.

While the authorities’ list is comprehensive, it is generally not very specific, which is perhaps to be expected considering that the government is new in office.

 

In some areas, like combating tax evasion and corruption, I am encouraged with what appears to be a stronger resolve on the part of the new authorities in Athens, and we look forward to learn more about their plans. In quite a few areas, however, including perhaps the most important ones, the letter is not conveying clear assurances that the Government intends to undertake the reforms envisaged in the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies.

 

We note in particular that there are neither clear commitments to design and implement the envisaged comprehensive pension and VAT policy reforms, nor unequivocal undertakings to continue already-agreed policies for opening up closed sectors, for administrative reforms, for privatization, and for labor market reforms.

 

As you know, we consider such commitments and undertakings to be critical for Greece’s ability to meet the basic objectives of its Fund-supported program, which is why these are the areas subject to most of the structural benchmarks agreed with the Fund.

 

Thus, it is important for me to emphasize that for the discussions on a completion of the review to be successful they cannot be confined within the policy perimeters outlined in the Government’s list.

My Staff and I look forward to working with the new Government on finding common ground, with the aim of concluding the 6th review of the Fund-supported program as soon as possible.

Thank you for all your efforts to get us to this point.

With best regards,

Christine Lagarde
Managing Director
International Monetary Fund

Source

 

Dow Jones adds:

  • GREEK LIST FAILS TO MAKE CLEAR ASSURANCES ON PENSION, VAT OVERHAULS, LIBERALIZING CLOSED SECTORS - IMF'S LAGARDE

  • IMF'S LAGARDE: GREEK OVERHAUL PROPOSALS 'GENERALLY NOT VERY SPECIFIC'

  • IMF'S LAGARDE: GREEK PROPOSALS A GOOD STARTING POINT

  • IMF'S LAGARDE: GREEK PROPOSALS FAIL TO GIVE ASSURANCES ON IMPORTANT BAILOUT REFORMS

  • IMF'S LAGARDE: CURRENT GREEK BAILOUT PROPOSALS INSUFFICIENT TO RELEASE FUND CASH

  • EU FIN MINS CALL ON GREEK AUTHORITIES TO "FURTHER DEVELOP" AND "BROADEN" LIST OF REFORM MEASURES

Because the tragicomedy must go on!