Ντομ. Στρος-Καν:«Το θέμα δεν ήταν να σωθούν οι τράπεζες για τις τράπεζες,αλλά για να σωθεί ο κόσμος»

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:03]So, this was incredibly selfish, incredibly political. I think the fact that the IMF was forced to break its own rules was partially the fault of Dominique Strauss-Kahn cuz he wanted to get involved, but more I put the blame on the Germans and the French because they wanted to protect their their darling banks. So, it was a bank bailout and not a sovereign bailout. And that basically put German banks above [music] the Greek people.

[00:00:25]Against this background, yes, the question of saving the bank was a huge question. Not especially the French or the German banks. The European's bank, the American bank, the banks in Japan, the bank in Korea, all over the world.

[00:00:38]And so, the problem was not to save the bank for saving the bank.

[00:00:43]The problem was to save the bank to save the people. But economists and analysts are saying that, you know, if there was a a debt restriction at the beginning, the program would not have been so harsh and hard.

[00:00:55]>> A fair, sure. If a restructuring at the beginning had would have been possible, the program would have been easier.

[00:01:03]There was no magic stick to get out of the problem without a phase of austerity. What is right in what you say is that with the earlier the restructuring, the softer the program. But, earlier restructuring had other risks.

[00:01:20]And all the people deciding that especially the European leaders had to balance the two risks. Longer, harsher program or bigger risk on the other side of the