In a bitter 40 minute lecture, European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, lectures Greece on the "truth".
Other than being a pompous buffoon, Jean-Claude Juncker is most famous for his statement "When it becomes serious, you have to lie".
I believe it's safe to say that things are serious.
Coordinated Meddling
Please consider Eurozone Leaders Take Coordinated Gamble with Response to Athens
By publicly insisting that Greece�s referendum on Sunday is a choice about the country�s future in the eurozone, Europe�s leaders are taking a high-risk political gamble that their intervention will win over Greek voters rather than alienate them.Believable Juncker
The strategy was carefully chosen. According to two eurozone officials, the EU�s three most high-profile leaders � Angela Merkel, the German chancellor; Fran�ois Hollande, the French president; and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president � co-ordinated how they would respond to the Greek government�s call for a No vote during a series of phone calls at the weekend.
Greek voters have come to resent the EU�s interference in their domestic politics. Eurozone leaders were complicit in the ousting of George Papandreou as prime minister in 2011 and they actively campaigned against the far-left Syriza party in parliamentary elections back in 2012. But eurozone leaders believed they could not let the Greek government�s campaign for a No go unanswered, officials said.
�What do the Greek people know about all this? The reason why I am addressing?.?.?.?the Greek people is they have to know the truth,� Mr Juncker said in an occasionally bitter 40-minute address. �I think that the Greek government knows all these elements and it would be advisable to tell the truth to the Greek people instead of simplifying its own message to a �No�.�
It is a strategy that could still go awry. Mr Juncker�s bill of particulars included some evasions. His argument that creditors were not proposing pension cuts, for instance, is true only according to the narrowest possible definition of a pension cut. Greek officials also argue his claim there was never an �ultimatum� is a rewriting of recent history. Several eurozone officials at the time described the offer made to Athens on Thursday in such terms.
The only significant statement Juncker ever made that I accept as factual is his own admission that he is a liar.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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