Goodbye Troika: Germany Rides Into Its Greek Colony On The “Quadriga”

From an outsider perspective, it looks like the new addition is because the IMF is headed by Christine Lagarde. Lagarde is an ally of the Obama administration and placed within the IMF by it. Wolfgang Schäuble probably couldn’t get the job done with 1/3 of the Troika being compromised by the IMF’s continued sympathy for Greece and now Berlin’s Fourth Reich has found a way around it. It’s unclear what role the ESM will exactly be playing, but time will tell.

 

 

With creditors’ motorcades having officially returned to the streets of Athens in the wake of Greek lawmakers’ approval of the second set of bailout prior actions last Wednesday, tensions are understandably high.

After all, these are the same “institutions” which Yanis Varoufakis famously booted from Greece after Syriza swept to power in January, and they’ve come to represent the oppression of the Greek people and are now a symbol of the country’s debt servitude.

Although an absurd attempt was made to rebrand the dreaded “troika” earlier this year, the new and rather amorphous moniker – “the institutions” – never really stuck and perhaps because everyone involved felt the need to put a new name to the group that Greeks regard as the scourge of the Aegean in order to make negotiators feel safer on their trips to Athens, creditors have now added the ESM to their collective and rebranded themselves “The Quadriga.” 

Apparently (and unfortunately), this is not a joke. Here’s MNI:

The source from the Commission also noted that the group formerly known as Troika is now being renamed as “Quadriga”, to note the inclusion of the ESM in the talks. 

“Quadriga is the name inspired by Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker for the new Greek project” the Commission source said, adding that “the EU side is a bit nervous of not knowing the IMF stance.”

Full article: Goodbye Troika: Germany Rides Into Its Greek Colony On The “Quadriga” (Zero Hedge)