German press: Troika forced privatization sell-offs

According to research by the German newspaper from the beginning of the troika programs in 2010, public property is sold under greatpressure of time and well below its value.

In Greece and Portugal, at this timeassessments of privatization made through opaque procedures, pre-agreed, and suspicious advantages for certain stakeholders. "Privatization is not necessarily bad," American Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman told the German newspaper. "But here we are dealing in many cases with unnecessary sellout. The profits are privatized while the risks and losses are borne by the entire society," said the economist.

Tagesspiegel presents privatization as a Monopoly game, but calls it Europoly. The game rules are summarized as follows: "Property value in billions sold out, water services pass into private hands, banks sold to buyers controversially. Oligarchs and investors play a giant Monopoly. Lenders have changed the rules of the game for the benefit of speculators. In this Europolygame it is clear from the outset who will be the losers (...)."

The "largest privatization program in Europe" will bring by 2016, at best, only 11 billion euros instead of an expected 50 billion. The effects of miscalculations affect citizens, who must suffer even tougher austerity and still more cuts.

"The crisis was the worst moment for privatization," said Costas Mitropoulos former head of HRADF to Tagesspiegel. "But from the beginning the troika did not understand that the problem was not the selling price. Just the market was not ready for investment, regardless of the cost. "

The Europoly game brings enormous wealth in some players, while others lead to bankruptcy. Meanwhile there are many who seek fairer rules. And they ask the troikaask them troikanous: Why put crisis countries under pressure of time? Why in Greece did you not wait for the market to bounce back before starting privatizations? Why did you do everything so investors could buy at a bargain price?