Selling Greek Myths To The Irish

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90375912Lynch

Paul Murphy (top) and the opinion piece by Suzanne Lynch in yesterday’s Irish Times

This morning, Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy and Suzanne Lynch, Irish Times’ European Correspondent, spoke to Seán O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio One’s T0day with Seán O’Rourke ahead of Sunday’s bailout referendum in Greece on Sunday.

What began as a chat about Greece turned into a discussion about pro-EU bias in the media.

Seán O’Rourke: “I see, I quote, in the Daily Telegraph today, from the Greek finance minister Mr Varoufakis effectively threatening to sue the EU institutions and to seek a court injunction to block any effort to expel it from the euro and they’re talking about taking advice and considering an injunction at the European Court for Justice if any such move is made because it’s just not provided for in any of the European treaties.”

Suzanne Lynch: “It’s possible, they haven’t confirmed that yet, here in Brussels, about that report but I mean there’s a lot of legal [inaudible] about a lot of aspects about what’s happened over the last week, not least whether the referendum in Greece is even legally possible because you’re not supposed to have referendums on fiscal measures.
So there’s legal questions everywhere you turn here on this issue and then one of your correspondent or your contributor there was making the point that the ECB is kind of acting, I suppose the implication, without, you know, beyond its mandate by effectively forcing the Greek government to impose capital controls. A lot of people in the ECB would say that already the ECB has being going past its mandate by keeping the banks going for this long with emergency funding. So, you know, no matter what way you look at this, really the argument is there on every angle I think on this saga.”

O’Rourke: “What’s your take on that speech made yesterday by the President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker – effectively using language that could be considered to be quite emotive and maybe not the most wisely judged of languages as well. ”

Lynch: “Yeah, that goes without saying, that his reference to suicide was badly judged. One can only think he wasn’t speaking his first language, that he meant something else but yeah, absolutely, I mean people are saying here that while he was trying to rally the Greek public, he may have actually achieved the opposite in this speech. But it was very wide-ranging.
He spoke for nearly a half an hour, he touched on everything from when Greece first joined the European Union in 1981, he talked about how personally he’d been involved in the association. He talked a lot about solidarity and how, you know, this isn’t about protecting one country against 18 others and he said a number of times about the other Eurozone countries, that you have to think of those countries.
And, again, he mentioned Ireland, he mentioned other bailed-out countries but I think he was implying these other poorer, east European countries in the European Union and the Euro, countries like Bulgaria, Slovakia, there’s huge opposition to any further concessions to Greece from those kind of countries. Their GDP is much lower than Greece. Their pensions are much less generous than the Greek pensions and that’s the reality so, you know, it’s very hard to sell this idea of further concessions to Greece. There are a lot of those poorer east European countries in particular.”

O’Rourke: “What do you say to that point, Paul Murphy?”

Paul Murphy: “Well I say first of all, about the Jean Claude Juncker speech, that it was peppered with falsehoods. The idea that the Greek side walked out of the negotiations is false. He claimed that the …”

Lynch: “Well I don’t think that’s the case, Paul, they did, they broke off negotiations on Friday. That’s exactly what happened.”

Murphy: “Well that’s…no it’s not what happened. You’re taking the line…”

Lynch: “What happened?”

Murphy: “…from the so-called creditors.”

Lynch: “No I’m not taking the line, I’m telling, I’m pointing out the fact there’s been constant spin from the Greek side on this aswell. So you think they didn’t walk out from the negotiations on Friday?”

Murphy: “Correct. Varoufakis was asked to leave at a certain stage so the Euro group could continue without him which is an unprecedented measure.”

Lynch: “That’s Saturday, that wasn’t Friday, that’s Saturday. You’re confusing, the Friday I’m talking about, in the negotiations.”

Murphy: “OK, I think the role of the media in this, to be honest, I think Suzanne Lynch’s articles have been consistently biased and taking the side of the so-called creditors, the Troika. In a recent article, she referred to Tspirias as a ‘self-styled Che Guevara figure’ – that’s not unbiased journalism. It’s taking the line of the establishment and repeating the propaganda here. Juncker claims …

O’Rourke: “Before you go any further, I want Suzanne Lynch to come back on that, if she wishes. Suzanne?”

Lynch: “I think I’ll just leave that actually, Seán.”

Murphy: “But I just think the behaviour there of..”

Lynch: “Well I’ll say on thing: that was an analysis piece that I wrote. In the irish Times there’s a strong division between news and analysis and I’m not going to get into a sense of my work with Paul Murphy on radio. I would like him to get back to the factual issues. The Greek negotiators did break off negotiations on Friday, that’s exactly what happened.

Murphy: “No that’s not accurate. So, on a factual issue, Mr Juncker caiamed that the reposal of the institutions does not include any cuts on pensions , that is completely inaccurate. Even the correspondent for the Financial Times tweeted, sorry this is not true, creditors bailout includes phasing out a solidarity grant , this is a pension cut regardless of what Juncker says. He claimed that the measures that the Commission is putting forward are socially just and not accurate, they’re abolishing heat oil subsidies, they’re enabling people who are less than €1,500 to have money taken directly from their wages. They’re heaping more tax on ordinary people, through payment on VAT. on basic goods, etc, and so there’s a massive spin going on about this, right? And the line is, the Greeks broke off negotiations, they’re unreasonable, they’re not capable, they’re unprofessional, etc, etc, etc. What they’re ignoring here is the question of democracy. What everyone fears is democracy…”

O’Rourke: “Going back to the point , you’ve dealt with that now, Juncker’s speech at some length but what about the point Suzanne Lynch has made and, by the way, sorry, I don’t think it’s right for you to accuse somebody of bias. I think Suzanne Lynch is a professional, honest journalist, reporting things that she sees and, by the way, to describe a man as a self-styled Che Guevara is a compliment.”

Murphy: “No it’s an insult, it’s a ridiculously insulting comment…I’m not questioning her integrity as a journalist.”

Talk over each other

O’Rourke: “Romania, the Czech Republic, or Latvia or Lithuania, these people are in countries that have a far lower GDP and income per head of population then the people in Greece. They’re not in favour. I mean where does democracy apply to them?”

Murphy: “No, but nobody, working people across Europe should not be paying for this crisis. The crisis should be paid by the banks in Europe, the bondholders in Europe, which are responsible for the crisis.”

Lynch: “But they are paying for the crisis, they have leant them billions of euro and that’s the problem.”

Murphy: “No, no they’re not. Suzanne, if you’re going to be accurate, you’ll know that 90% of the money that went to Greece from the Troika did not go to the Greek economy ,it went back out, it went on to the balance sheet of the Greek people and they’ll pay for it now, forever, unless they reject this deal and it went back out to bail out the banks. That’s what ‘s happening here, just like what happened in Ireland and I think people across Europe can hopefully see this. This is not a question of the people of Greece agains the people from elsewhere in Europe, it’s a question of ordinary people, the 99% across Europe versus the 1% represented by the Junckers and the Merkels and the Hollandes and the rest of them.”

Silence.

O’Rourke: “Suzanne?”

Lynch: “I just want to get back to the facts actually not engage in any of this kind of more ridiculous discussion with Paul Murphy there. The fact is that the two deadlines today, the IMF repayment of €1.6 million, it looks like Greece will not pay that repayment but, more importantly, the second bailout expires. I think this is probably more significant because this could give the trigger for the ECB to react further and to withdraw the emergency funding and essentially let the Greek banks go.

So what we might see today, and what I’m reporting today, is there’s definitely a sense that there’s a diplomatic incentive to get a deal agreed by the end of today. But what does seem likely is that , in any event, the second bailout that expires today, it’s very late now to get that extended. Enda Kenny said that as well this morning because, technically, it has to a lot of parliaments. Five other parliaments, including the German parliament. So that looks unlikelt. I mean the only possibility is that maybe Greece would apply for a third bailout because they, legally, again can request that.

So, I mean, there is this conundrum and this, somebody called it a parody of a referendum, in that Tsipirias called a referendum for next Sunday on something that will not exist anymore because that bailout expires today. And also, I think it’s showing again very bad political judgement by Alexis Tsipirias, he’s actually putting this to the people when they will have been faced without about five days of bank closures and capital controls so, of course, that’s going to galvanise more people, maybe to vote Yes and say, ‘hang on we’re not sure about this route, we better get back to the negotiating table’.”

Listen back in full here (starts at 16 mins)

Related: Analysis: Tsipras’s gamble backfires as Greece nears exit

(Photocall Ireland)

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41 thoughts on “Selling Greek Myths To The Irish

  1. Rob_G

    Whatever about anything else, Paul Murphy’s denial that Greece broke off negotiations unilaterally seems to have no basis in reality; didn’t all of the other EZ countries release a statement to this effect?

      1. Owen C

        He said they broke off because Varoufakis was not invited back in to the meeting. Suzanne Lynch pointed out that this happened on Saturday, not Friday, which is when the negotiations broke off (everyone agrees with this basic timeline. everyone). So, from a purely factual point of view, either Murphy was lying or simply didn’t know the actual events.

        1. pjplusfive

          Surely if Varufackis was still speaking to them Sat, talks could not have ended Fri.

          1. Owen C

            Talks ended Friday night, which is backed up by the rather obvious fact that the referendum was announced Friday night. Saturday was already arranged for the Eurogroup summit, and they needed to put together a statement for release. When Varoufakis would not agree with that statement (the first time Eurogroup had failed to get a consensus agreement on a statement), he was asked to leave.

          2. Francesco

            Yup, as Owen C says, Euro 19 convened a meeting on Saturday and excluded Varoufakis & the Greeks (making it in effect a Euro 18), they then told the Greeks that they didn’t need to follow convention as it was an “ad hoc” group.

            The Greeks didn’t walk on Friday the Eurogroup kicked them out on Saturday.

  2. Mani

    Rourke would be an embarrassment to RTE if they didn’t already have a strict policy of journalistic mediocrity.

  3. SOMK

    There was an obvious and easy come back for Lynch re: Guevara, Syriza are a coalition of the radical left, if Greece were ruled by a coalition of the radical right would it be unfair to compare them to Pinochet?

    Still it’s pretty pathetic to see a political journalist unwilling to even engage in the point that there is some kind of class dynamic going on here, even at a 1% vs. 99% level, politics is about the public allocation of power after all, if a political analysis who won’t analyse power is like a car mechanic allergic to engine oil.

    1. Ed

      Greece actually was ruled by a coalition of the radical, ultra nationalist right until January. Its leaders were never referred to as anything but “centrists”, never mind being compared to Pinochet or Franco.

      1. Owen C

        New Democracy are “Radical, ultra nationalist right”? Probably news to a lot of people. Right wing/conservative perhaps. Hardly nationalist if they’re very pro-EU.

      2. Vote Rep #1

        Exactly which are these “radical, ultra nationalist right” parties you refer to please?

    2. Lilly

      + 1 Seems as if she regards herself as a reporter ‘timelines, facts blabla’ and feels out of her depth attempting analysis.

  4. Mr. T.

    Donkey O’Rourke is failing miserably as a replacement for the Plank. He’s massively anti-left and lets it cloud his judgement when conducting interviews.

    He let Lynch constantly interrupt Murphy. He does it all the time when politicians he disagrees with are on his show. He’s a joke, clearly an agenda puppet.

    1. rotide

      Out of interest, how does a media outlet that you consider to be an ‘agenda puppet’ differ from broadsheet?

  5. ineverthoughidenduphere

    Further down in the interview” that not published here at 00.26.30 is a frightening insight into Paul Murphy’s lack of basic economics and it’s consequences “The ECB is capable of making money, printing money, out of nothing, in any case”

      1. ineverthoughidenduphere

        quantitative easing is not printing money for the sake of it, quantitative easing is the ECB buying other government bonds and securities, The theory is to help lending and the liquidity of economies by exchanging these bonds for euro’s, It is not pressing a button to print extra euro’s. Currencies value work on supply and demand, the basic of economics, otherwise we could be all paid a million euro’s a week and it would have no real value.

    1. ollie

      The EC can’t print money, that’s why they’re printing over a trillion euro. Check your facts you fool

  6. Owen

    I hate Paul Murphy so I didn’t read it. Can I arrogantly maintain my hatred and save time or should I read it?

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      Tuned in to the Right Hook yesterday and heard what I thought was a Leaving Cert student talking about Greece but getting the facts all wrong. It was HIM!!

          1. Spaghetti Hoop

            No JtL – listened to the interview with Murphy on Dinnytalk!!
            On a current affairs programme.
            Oh my.

  7. Owen C

    this part here is incredibly damning of Murphy’s understanding of what actually took place at the weekend. Its a hugely important series of events that he doesn’t seem to know about.

    Lynch: “No I’m not taking the line, I’m telling, I’m pointing out the fact there’s been constant spin from the Greek side on this aswell. So you think they didn’t walk out from the negotiations on Friday?”

    Murphy: “Correct. Varoufakis was asked to leave at a certain stage so the Euro group could continue without him which is an unprecedented measure.”

    Lynch: “That’s Saturday, that wasn’t Friday, that’s Saturday. You’re confusing, the Friday I’m talking about, in the negotiations.”

  8. ollie

    The aritlce is supposed to be an analysis, not an opinion piece. Lynch and O’Rourke really are p**s poor at their chosen professions (as is the broadsheet employee who proof read the article)
    At least my tax doesn’t go to pay Lynch’s salary.

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