Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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96. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on any discussions held with his Greek counterpart or other officials since the referendum held on 5 July 2015. [28377/15]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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The Government's public profession of sympathy for the Greek people and occasional abuse of the word "solidarity" in respect of them has been exposed as entirely empty rhetoric, which covered up, behind the scenes in the closed rooms in Brussels, active participation in a coup with which the Syriza Government was unfortunately complicit and which has reduced Greece not to a sovereign state but to colonial status within Europe.

Does the Minister not agree the Varoufakis interview confirms that and, as I put to the Taoiseach just two weeks ago, that it also confirms the Government’s actions were stabbing the Greek people in the chest and the Irish people in the back?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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This seems to be an echo of the identical type of question from Deputy Boyd Barrett. I have not held any discussions with my Greek counterpart or any Greek officials since the referendum was held in Greece on 5 July. The agreement reached on 13 July is not a new deal. Rather, it sets out the modalities for the conduct of negotiations with a view towards the reaching of agreement.

I will repeat what I said in response to Deputy Boyd Barrett. It is incumbent on the Greek authorities to recognise their need to proceed to legislate, which I am sure the sovereign parliament will do, on the matter of value added tax, pensions and reforms by 15 July, and a further set of reforms by the following week, 22 July. Only when and if that course of action is completed and passed and the legislation is enacted in the sovereign parliament in Athens can discussions on the new programme commence.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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That is yet another threat from the Minister, the same threats that have come from the Eurogroup, the Commission President and the President of the European Parliament. The Greek Government was negotiating under pressure with a gun to its head. It was told that if it did not agree to the horrific austerity that will destroy the Greek people and economy, it would be out of the eurozone and they would bring down its banking system. Where was the Minister for Finance during the process? He, along with Wolfgang Schäuble, was screaming that they should pull the trigger and pull the support from the Greek banks. The demands put on the Greek Government are to destroy and devastate the Greek economy.

If Syriza votes for it as a whole, which the majority is likely to do, it will finish itself as a political force having sold out the people in terms of the basis on which they voted for it and that will bring an end to the government. I support those in the Greek Parliament who will vote “No”. I support those who will mobilise in the general strike to vote “No”, but let us be clear on the rotten role of the Government. This is not democracy. This is not a democratic European Union. Greece is not being treated as any sort of sovereign state. Europe has bullied Greece and more bullying is evident in the recent agreement which aims to humiliate and ensure no example exists of an alternative to austerity that could embarrass the Government or that of Prime Minister Rajoy in Spain, or that in Portugal or elsewhere.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I very much reject any assertion that Ireland, its Minister for Finance in particular, or anybody else for or on behalf of this country engaged in the type of behaviour alleged by Deputy Paul Murphy. The agreement is far from humiliating Greece or its people. It is about an attempt to rebuild trust between the Government of Greece on behalf of the people of Greece and the euro state governments.

I understand that a course of action has already been embarked upon by the Greek Government within its Parliament to mark its commitments and proceed with a programme of legislative reform over the next few days. I stress for the benefit of Deputy Murphy that Greece is a sovereign state and it is for Greece itself to decide whether it wishes to accept the financial aid package offered by the European partners or seek an alternative route.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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This agreement is about the deliberate humiliation of the Greek people and the Greek Government. Some of the finance Ministers at the Eurogroup admitted it. They said the reason the agreement is so harsh is because the Greek people, through an incredible act of insubordination, had a democratic referendum and opted to reject austerity.

As a result, the EU demanded more austerity. Does a sovereign state hand €50 billion worth of its assets to a supposedly independent fund? Does it hand over its assets to one that was originally proposed to be controlled by the German finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, making these presentations? Does a sovereign state agree to have automatic austerity and to cede power to an unelected fiscal council? This is about humiliation, a dictatorship of capital and the rich in Europe, and the Irish Government trying to avoid humiliation. Yanis Varoufakis said of other indebted countries:

The reason of course was their greatest nightmare was our success: were we to succeed in negotiating a better deal for Greece, that would of course obliterate them politically, they would have to answer to their own people why they didn’t negotiate like we were doing.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the very positive and helpful contribution by the Minister for Finance, particularly as the talks hit a critical stage over the last few days. While it is in all our interests that Greece remain in the euro area, each fully fledged member has, and will continue to have, obligations. This is no different for the Greek Government, and this is why, following a request on the part of the Greek authorities for a third programme under the ESM, leaders of the euro area member states have agreed in principle that they are ready and willing to commence negotiations on an ESM financial assistance programme for Greece as soon as the Greek authorities complete their programme of legislation and reform in order to facilitate the commencement of the negotiations.