Internationally acclaimed French economist Thomas Piketty says that “several parties [involved in the resolution of the Greek debt issue] have been hypocritical towards Greece.” In an interview with the Belgian newspaper L’ Echo, the author of The Capital in the 21st Century said that “there is a huge hypocrisy towards Greece and this is dramatic,” reffering to teh proposed reforms to Greece. “Obviously the Greek tax system needs to be improved.” “But, on the other hand, the French and German banks are very happy to receive deposits of wealthy Greeks, without giving details on Greek tax authorities… and you want, then, Greece on its own to impose a fair tax on the rich Greek taxpayers?,” wonders the economist. Piketty notes that the Greek tax system should be improved towards the taxation of large property, and here a European solution is required. “On the other hand, there are still many people in Europe who like the idea of pushing Greece out of the Eurozone. And this is extremely serious.” When asked to comment why a possible Grexit is a cause of concern he highlighted that such a development “will be the beginning of the final defeat of Europe. This is absolutely certain.” “The question in each subsequent election, Portugal, Spain or Belgium, will be whether the particular country must leave the Eurozone or not.” The infamous economist, was also called to evaluate the Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt’s statements that a Greek exit from the single currency would not necessary signal a disaster. “With apprentice sorcerers, as in this case, we are not on a good track… Europe is one of our most valuable assets, and if we start to say that a country, which represents less than 2% of the GDP of Eurozone is not able to resolve the problem within the euro and should be ‘expelled,’ then what would happen if similar risks are presented for Portugal, Belgium, Italy or France?” “Whenever these countries will have elections, markets will seek their exit said Piketty, adding that “we will have a huge speculation about interest rates in each country.” “This way, we will create an expelling machine for everyone.’ The French economist suggested: “Athens must certainly proceed with its reforms and sort its financial issues, however, the idea that we can reduce a public debt of around 90% of the GDP -or 175% as in Greece and 107% as in Belgium- with zero inflation and with almost zero growth, only with the accumulation of surpluses of 2, 3 or 4% of the GDP every year, is ridiculous.” “If you look at math it would take ten years,” he continued, adding that “the irony in this case is that we had already previously much worse debt crises than this: In 1945 the public debt of France and Germany reached 200% of the GDP. Did they pay it off just like that, only with surpluses? Of course not. Otherwise we would be still there. There was restructuring and deletion. And that is what has allowed many European countries to invest in development and infrastructure.” Concluding, Mr. Piketty accused the European leaders “of suffering from historical amnesia, especially the ones in Germany, and this is very annoying for a country for which the issue of historical memory is essential.” “I insist on this: Our amnesia will cost us dearly.”
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