Economic cost of Syriza’s negotiation strategy worth €10.6 billion – Hayes

Brian Hayes MEP today said that the economic cost of Syriza’s negotiation strategy with European creditors will cost the economy over €10 billion this year. 

“In Autumn 2014, the European Commission said that Greece was on track to grow by 2.9% for 2015. The latest forecasts from S&P state that Greece’s economy is likely to shrink by 3%. In total that’s a swing of 5.9 percentage points. 

“If we take Greece’s GDP for 2014 which was €179 billion according to Eurostat, the total shrinkage of 5.9% is worth €10.6 billion for 2015. 

“Syriza spent five wasteful months playing chicken with European creditors. This lost €10.6 billion could have been used getting people back to work, building new roads and improving public services. Instead it has been wasted on the Syriza’s navel-gazing.

“Ireland, on the other hand, having gone down the route of prudent negotiation and four years of steady discussions, has saved taxpayers over €10 billion through renegotiation of the Troika programme. 

“By replacing the promissory note with a cheaper funding model, we will have to borrow €20 billion less over the next decade as a result. We have delivered interest savings of over €10 billion and reduced by €20 billion the amount of money the State will have to borrow over the next decade by extending the maturities on our European loans. 

“Syriza’s tactics show that going to war with creditors simply does not work. Ireland sat down at the negotiation table and proposed deals that were never on the table. This is the strategy that has got Ireland’s economy back on track. We still have much work to do but our economy is growing, while Greece’s is shrinking.”