Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

It is clear that there is a direct relation between the conditions imposed by the Troika Troika Troika: IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank, which together impose austerity measures through the conditions tied to loans to countries in difficulty.

IMF : https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html and the increase in public debt. The Debt Truth Committee will produce a preliminary report in which the debt will be assessed according to whether it is legitimate or legal, because there is significant evidence that the Greek constitution as well as International Treaties guaranteeing human rights have been violated.

The committee considers that there is a direct relation between the policies imposed by creditors and the impoverishment of the living conditions of the population and the 25% decrease in GDP GDP
Gross Domestic Product Gross Domestic Product is an aggregate measure of total production within a given territory equal to the sum of the gross values added. The measure is notoriously incomplete; for example it does not take into account any activity that does not enter into a commercial exchange. The GDP takes into account both the production of goods and the production of services. Economic growth is defined as the variation of the GDP from one period to another. since 2010. For example, the public pension funds Pension Fund
Pension Funds Pension funds: investment funds that manage capitalized retirement schemes, they are funded by the employees of one or several companies paying-into the scheme which, often, is also partially funded by the employers. The objective is to pay the pensions of the employees that take part in the scheme. They manage very big amounts of money that are usually invested on the stock markets or financial markets. suffered a tremendous reduction due to the PSI of 2012 organized by the Troika, losing 16 or 17 billion euros from their original value of 31 billion. The revenue to the social security funds have also suffered directly due to the increase in unemployment and the reduction of wages as a consequence of the measures imposed by the Troika.

The Greek debt is not sustainable, not only from a financial perspective, since it is clear, that Greece is in essence unable to repay it, but also from a human rights perspective. Several specialist lawyers in International Law consider that Greece can declare itself in a state of necessity. According to International Law, when a country is in a state of necessity it has the possibility to suspend debt repayments unilaterally (without accumulating interest Interest An amount paid in remuneration of an investment or received by a lender. Interest is calculated on the amount of the capital invested or borrowed, the duration of the operation and the rate that has been set. arrears) in order to guarantee to its citizens basic human rights, such as education, health, food, and pensions.

The aim of the Debt Truth Committee’s preliminary report is to strengthen the position of Greece, giving it further argumentation in its negotiations with the creditors. The Debt Truth Committee would like to arrange a public visit with journalists in order to allow the Minister to make public the direct relation between the policies imposed by the Troika and the degradation of the living conditions of major parts of the population and specifically of pensioners, who have seen their pension reduced by 40% on average during the Troika years.

As we learned from the Minster, 66% of pensioners receive a pension income of less than 700 euros, and 45% of pensioners receive a pension income below the poverty line of 660 euros a month. Personally, I, Eric Toussaint strongly criticize the demands of the creditors to impose further reductions of the subsidiary pensions, when it is clear that the previous and current policies imposed by the creditors violate the pensioner’s rights to decent revenue. Pensions should be restored.