The anti-neoliberal pressure group Attac issued a Greek bailout study, indicating that €160 billion out of the €207 billion were provided to Greek lenders and investors. Lisa Mittendrein, from Attac Austria said that the Greek bailout had nothing to do with helping the Greek population.
Mittendrein said, “Political elites have not been trying to rescue the Greek population, but the finance sector.” In detail, the pressure group announced that 77 per cent of the Greek bailout resources were invested in the financial sector. According to the calculations made by the pressure group, the government in Athens put €58 billion into the domestic bank's recapitalization program. Another €55 billion were used to pay back sovereign bonds and €11 billion more to buy back accumulated national debt.
Moreover, Attac study indicated that only a small proportion of the rest Greek bailout money were used meaningfully to help the Greek population. “The widespread belief supported by European politicians that the various rescue packages for Greece have helped ordinary people in the country is no longer tenable,” Mittendrein stressed.
Attac hellas, published a report about the Greek bailout emphasising its opposition to the the privatisations of public services (water, energy, etc.) and stressing the problematic character of the banking oversight agencies, both in the European and the national level.
The German government rejected the conclusions made by Attac, arguing that Greek citizens have profited from the policies of the Greek liberal government having more time to implement reforms. The German government also claimed that all Greeks had profited from saving the Greek banks from bankruptcy.
At this point we should emphasise that before the Greek bailout, the former government of New Democracy back in 2008, approved a 28 billion euro public financial package, in order to support the national banks.
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