For Greece’s PM Tsipras, Another Fruitless Run at the Debt Issue in New York

- Advertisement -

In serious trouble at home from a series of interconnected scandals and policy blunders, Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras turned to the annual UN General Assembly New York meetings to try and generate support for faster and deeper Greek debt relief and to gather support on the migration issue.
This year the Greek delegation’s annual United Nations General Assembly trip is more properly focused on UN and regional/global issues and is not a stealth bilateral U.S. visit of the kind we saw last year. Bilateral contacts with U.S. Government officials outside of the UN context have been minimal, depending on how one classifies the hastily-arranged September 20th New York bilateral session (the no-Obama consolation prize) with Vice President Joe Biden. If you look at the PM’s official New York program as released by the Greek UN Mission’s Press Office on September 16th, there were no Greece-U.S. bilateral contacts agreed at that time, and all the routine New York media and business community sessions that PM Tsipras attended appear to have been finalized sometime after the very light official schedule was released. To this observer it looks as if the PM’s schedulers were hanging on confirmation of key bilateral meetings before releasing the watered-down New York program, some of which did not materialize. Fortunately, PM Tsipras was able to arrange to speak at the high-profile Concordia Summit in New York, also focusing on the refugee crisis.
The readout of the Greece-U.S. bilateral meeting contained no surprises. Vice President Biden’s official readout stressed strong U.S. approval for Tsipras’ participation in President Obama’s UN Refugee Summit and Greek efforts on that front. On the economy, Biden encouraged Tsipras to press on with implementation of key structural reforms in coordination with Greece’s international partners. Biden “again underscored the importance of Europe following through on its commitment to put Greece’s debt on a sustainable path through meaningful debt relief.” This is more or less the same phraseology the U.S. has been using for most of 2016, although amazingly not all officials mention debt relief after pressing Greece for more complete structural reform, so no new ground was broken in the Biden meeting despite hints from the Greek side that the U.S. was prepared to take up Greece’s needs again in Berlin. Biden also expressed support for the progress made in Cyprus and highlighted the September 14th Cyprus leaders’ statement committing to more intensive work towards a comprehensive settlement this year.
The bottom line is that for many reasons PM Tsipras is left with a resoundingly flat/average New York visit scorecard, possibly even a trip that did not merit the PM’s extended attendance when faced with so much instability back home. For most countries the annual UN General Assembly pilgrimage is quite humdrum, with mundane visits to local ethnic counterparts, private conferences timed for the UNGA, and brief UN Bilateral meetings between just about everybody to add a little spice and photo ops. Greece should be so lucky.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

CEO/Editor-in-Chief.  Former US diplomat with previous assignments in Eastern Europe, the UN, SE Asia, Greece, across the Balkans, as well as Washington DC.

Latest

Kazakhstan accelerates digital transformation with new visa options

Upgrading its visa regime for skilled foreign workers and...

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Don't miss

Kazakhstan accelerates digital transformation with new visa options

Upgrading its visa regime for skilled foreign workers and...

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet

On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of American foreign assistance through USAID was not enough, on February 10 U.S. President Donald Trump...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him as a child throwing toys and anything to hand out of the playpen. Now, of...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...

EU-Central Asia Civil Society Forum enhances regional cooperation, sustainable development

Almaty, the largest city and former capital of Kazakhstan, hosted the fifth EU-Central Asia Civil Society Forum on January 28-30, focusing on digital transformation,...

Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity

After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...

The heat is on Trump’s fossil fuel push, climate change pushback

2024 has officially been confirmed as the warmest year on record, with global temperatures surpassing the 1.5°C threshold mentioned in the Paris Agreement, Alberto...

The Biden administration’s parting gift to Russia: Still more sanctions

Clearly working overtime to underscore the Biden administration’s desire to inflict maximum economic pain on Moscow and its coterie of Ukraine invasion supporters outside...

Insights from the recent UN-Turkmenistan Dialogue on the International Year of Peace and Trust

The modern world stands at a crossroads, facing unprecedented challenges that range from political conflicts to environmental crises. At the heart of these issues...