Greek Parliament forms commission to analyze cause of bailouts

The Greek Parliament approved on Tuesday the creation of an inquiry commission to examine the circumstances that forced Greece to solicit its first bailout in 2010, causing an exponential debt increase.

The initiative of the far leftist Syriza and its coalition partner, the nationalist Independent Greeks, had the support of 156 parliamentarians, while 72 voted against the resolution and 22 members abstained.

In a debate that lasted more than eight hours, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras argued that the commission is a requirement from the people who expect answers, and a way to eliminate any “revanchist” intentions for the “many question marks” that have arisen over the last five years.

Giving examples of responding to inquiries with “fairness and objectivity,” Tsipras noted the circumstances leading to the partial debt relief in private associations in 2012, as well as discovering who had reviewed the deficit data in 2009, and why.

The deficit figures of 2009 were a source of great controversy in the past, as the then outgoing government under conservative Kostas Karamanlis was accused of fraud by claiming the deficit to be much less than it actually was.

The following social democratic successor, George Papandreou, was then accused of claiming the deficit was higher than it really was in order to prompt the intervention of the troika, the tripartite body composed of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund.

The conservative former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras warned the Tsipras administration that if the country filed for bankruptcy, a commission would certainly investigate who was responsible of any possible malfeasance.

In order to clarify whether previous governments genuinely defended the interests of the Greeks by signing bailout programs, the investigation will address four time periods and intends to assign political responsibilities.

Although the investigation is not entitled to tackle any alleged offenses, if the commission finds evidence of criminal liability, it will make a recommendation so that probable cause is pursued.

This factfinding commission was one of the campaign promises made by Syriza before coming to power after the general elections of Jan. 25.