Are these the folks who'll pull off Greek debt write-off?
A group of economists mostly described as leftist and far-left activists from Europe and Latin America comprise the group of volunteers recruited to serve as advisers to Parliament's "committee of truth for the Greek public debt", a "brainchild" of controversial and outspoken Parliament president Zoi Konstantopoulou. Under the catchphrase of "Investigate it - Write it off", the non-conventional members of the group point to far-off? Ecuador as an example for debt-laden but EU and Eurozone member Greece. Their manta is "debt audit" and their "culprit" is "illegitimate debt". Konstantopoulou, a political "maverick" even before being nominated by her leftist SYRIZA party to preside over Greece's 300-deputy Parliament, wants to investigate which portion of Greece's ~175 percent of GDP debt is "illegitimate and loathsome" - her words - and should be written off. While a very difficult endeavor, it appears that the radical leftist SYRIZA government expects the committee to provide it with at least some "ammunition" for its arguments in any future debt relief talks. The committee's members, in fact, were greeted by the entire Cabinet during an inaugural session in Parliament's senate chambers. Below are the "activists-economists", or just plain left-wing activists assigned by a majority of Parliament's MPs with probing the Olympus-sized Greek debt and using their experience ? some in the Third World, some not ? in helping Greece deal with its "institutional" lenders. Could another such unconventional group focus on political and societal corruption in Greece (i.e. fakelaki) over the past 40 decades or so be in the works? It's worth noting that the committee's members will offer their services for free, with Parliament only picking up the tab for their travel and stay. ...
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