Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

The Committee for the Truth on the Greek public debt presented its first findings in June 2015. Éric Toussaint, who coordinates the Committee’s works, summed them up during a public session of the Greek Parliament on 17 June 2015. It was a historic moment as the Greek government attended the session, along with Greek and foreign MPs (from Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, Tunisia,… ) and representatives of social movements. The report concludes that the Greek public debt is largely illegal, illegitimate and odious. It is also unsustainable. The video of Éric Toussaint’s speech (broadcast live on the Parliament’s channel as well as on several social networks) was viewed so many times in Greece and in the francophone world that it has now been subtitled in English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, to make it accessible to other audiences. A German translation is under way, and other languages are being considered such as Polish, Serbian and Croatian, or Slovenian.

This preliminary report outlines the key questions and issues related to the Greek public debt, and exposes associated legal violations; it formulates the legal foundations for a unilateral suspension of debt repayment and its cancellation. In the months and years to come, the Greek debt will be at the centre of European debates; Éric Toussaint’s introduction will remain relevant. The struggle for justice for the Greek people in terms of debt is far from over, and the Committee for Truth on the Greek Public Debt will carry on its investigations, with or without institutional support. 

The preliminary report is already accessible on line in English, Greek, French, Spanish and will soon be in German. The various chapters are also posted separately for more convenient reading (see: http://cadtm.org/Debt-before-the-Troika ; http://cadtm.org/Evolution-of-the-Greek-public-debt ; http://cadtm.org/Greek-public-debt-by-creditors-in ; http://cadtm.org/The-impact-of-the-bailout ; http://cadtm.org/Report-of-the-Truth-Commission-on). The French publishing house Les Liens qui Libèrent will bring out the report in book-form in September 2015 (see http://cadtm.org/L-editeur-Les-Liens-qui-Liberent). 

Other video recordings are available on the CADTM website:

Lecture by Éric Toussaint (CADTM) and Michael Hudson (Levy Economics Institute, USA) organized by Dimitri Papadimoulis (Syriza MEP, Vice-president of the European Parliament) in the European Parliament, Brussels on 2 July 2015. See http://cadtm.org/Video-Crises-des-dettes-en-Grece

Éric Toussaint’s intervention during the press conference at the closure of the Greek Parliament on 18 June 2015. See in French
http://cadtm.org/En-quoi-sont-utiles-les-travaux-de

Éric Toussaint’s presentation of the findings of the Greek debt auditing at the Faculty of Economics at Athens on 16 July 2015. See in French http://cadtm.org/Intervention-d-Eric-Toussaint-le