The bustup between the European Commission and International Monetary Fund got nastier today when Olli Rehn, the commission’s pointman on the economic crisis, said he is feeling … well, all wet.
“I don’t think it is fair and just that the IMF is trying to wash its hands and throw the dirty water on European shoulders,” the hard-to-ruffle Finn normally known for a dry sense of humor said in Helsinki.
At issue is who is to blame for botching the first Greek aid program, in 2010. While an IMF staff report this week was full of self-criticism and subtle gibes at Germany and the European Central Bank, its digs at the commission dominated the Brussels conversation.
The unkindest cut was the assertion that the commission “was not able to contribute much” to reanimating the Greek economy. Perhaps, the IMF staffers said, that was because Rehn’s people “had no experience with crisis management” while the battle-tested IMF could “move rapidly” to do the right thing.
Remember that the commission and IMF, along with the ECB, make up the “troika” that designs and oversees the European bailouts. The next country up for a possible aid program, Slovenia, will have a dandy time negotiating with this lot.
Of the troika members, the commission may have the most to lose. It is regularly bashed as the scapegoat when things go wrong in Europe. It is now defending newly won prerogatives in managing the European economy, just as the Germans and French want to take them away.
After three days of jousting with the IMF, the commission, strangely enough, hasn’t gotten any backing from Berlin or Paris. Surely that is just a matter of time.
Original post is When You Visit the IMF, Don’t Drink the Water by Euro Crisis.
