“There is money”: Papandreou’s promise, after which Greece found itself in the grip of memorandums

September 10, 2009 Giorgos Papandreou uttered two words that at first helped him win the election and then became one of the most painful symbols of the Greek debt crisisA: “λεφτά υπάρχουν” – “there is money”.

Table of contents

• Where did the phrase actually come from?
• What exactly did Papandreou say?
• PASOK wins the elections
• From promises to Kastellorizo
• Lagarde’s list and the 500 million mystery
• Why two words survived the political era

Not ΔΕΘ, but an election rally in Kozani

In numerous retrospective publications, the famous phrase is associated with the International Exhibition in Thessaloniki – ΔΕΘ. However, this is not accurate.

“Lefta Iparhun” was heard on the evening of September 10, 2009 during Papandreou’s election speech in the central square of Kozani. There was less than a month left before the parliamentary elections.

It is this place and circumstances of the performance that Greek publications indicate “Ta Neah” And “Kuti Pandoras”.

The connection to ΔΕΘ probably arose because the performance took place during the traditional period of September political activity around the exhibition in Thessaloniki. But the formulation itself, which has become historical, was pronounced precisely in Kozani.

A fragment of the speech of Giorgos Papandreou on September 10, 2009 and the famous phrase “λεφτά υπάρχουν.”

What exactly did “there is money” mean?

Over the years, the phrase has become an independent political slogan, although in Papandreou’s speech it was part of a more detailed argument.

“The money is there if we demand it, if we attract investment, if we bring order, if we limit waste, if we stop directing money to the few and wealthy.”

Papandreou argued that Greece has the necessary resources, but they are being lost due to corruption, clientelism, uncontrolled spending and wrong government priorities.

Thus, he did not formally declare that there were already free billions in the state treasury that could be immediately distributed to the population. But the political meaning of the speech was clear this way: the country will not need tough measures, and social promises can be fulfilled through other policies.

Before the elections, the leader of PASOK promised to raise incomes above the inflation rate, support employment, redistribute funds and strengthen the welfare state.

The promise worked

In the parliamentary elections of October 4, 2009, PASOK won a landslide victory, gaining about 43.9% of votes and gaining 160 seats in parliament.

The previously ruling New Democracy of Kostas Karamanlis received approximately 33.5% and 91 mandates.

Papandreou came to power with a comfortable parliamentary majority and a broad public mandate. A significant portion of voters actually believed that a change in government would avoid painful cuts in income.

However, the new government stated that the actual state of public finances was significantly worse than official estimates. The initial deficit estimate was revised several times, and international markets’ confidence in Greek statistics rapidly eroded.

Government bond yields rose, credit ratings fell, and Greece’s ability to borrow money on acceptable terms virtually disappeared.

From “there is money” to Kastellorizo

Little more than seven months passed between the speech in Kozani and Papandreou’s next historic address.

On 23 April 2010, the Prime Minister spoke on the island of Kastellorizo ​​and announced that the government was formally appealing to European partners and the International Monetary Fund to activate the bailout mechanism.

For many Greeks, it was these shots that became the starting point of the era of memoranda. Athens News reported in more detail about the circumstances of the country’s request for external assistance in the material “Papandreou’s 10 minutes that changed Greece forever”.

In May 2010, funding was agreed for 110 billion euros from the eurozone countries and the IMF. The assistance was accompanied by a program of fiscal adjustment, privatization and structural adjustment.

It was followed by wage and pension cuts, tax increases, rising unemployment, business bankruptcies and a prolonged economic downturn. Therefore, the phrase “there is money” began to be perceived not as a discourse about corruption, but as a symbol of the gap between election promises and the subsequent policy of austerity.

How Papandreou explains his words

The former prime minister himself has repeatedly stated that his words were taken out of context. According to him, this was not a populist slogan or a promise of easy money, but an accusation against a system that allowed corruption, tax evasion and uncontrolled spending of public funds.

In an interview with Nikos Hadzinikolaou’s program “Ενώπιος Ενωπίω” on ANT1, Papandreou explained in detail what exactly he meant by the words “λεφτά υπάρχουν”.

Giorgos Papandreou answers a question about the expression “there is money” in an interview with ANT1 TV channel.

This explanation is fundamentally different from the established social interpretation. For Papandreou himself, it is about the availability of resources, subject to changes in public administration. For his critics – about the election promise that allowed PASOK to come to power shortly before the introduction of severe economic measures.

“There is money” and the riddle of 500 million

A few years later, the famous phrase received another, much more scandalous sound.

In 2012, Greek media linked the name of Margarita Papandreou, the mother of the former prime minister, with the largest account in the so-called Lagarde’s list.

The list was an array of stolen banking data about clients of the Geneva division of HSBC. The information was received by a former employee of the bank, Hervé Falciani, after which it ended up with the French authorities. In 2010, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde provided the Greek government with information on approximately two thousand depositors associated with Greece.

The publications claimed that the account, which could contain from 500 to 550 million eurosallegedly stood Margarita Papandreou. The story received international publicity: they wrote about it The GuardianFinancial Times and other publications.

The accusation looked politically explosive: the mother of the prime minister, who came to power under the banner of the phrase “there is money,” was linked to a huge fortune in a Swiss bank at a time when the Greek population was paying for the crisis with lower incomes and higher taxes.

However, the account belongs to the Papandreou family has not been proven.

Margarita Papandreou and her son categorically rejected the publications and declared their intention to defend their reputation in court. Lawsuits against three Greek media outlets were also reported “Athens News”.

In 2014, the Greek service for combating economic crimes, SDOE, officially announced that, based on the results of an audit, Margaret Papandreou’s name was not found on Lagarde’s list. The corresponding document was cited by the publication “To Vima”.

In 2015, Falciani again repeated the claim of an alleged bill of approximately €500 million. Family representatives called his words lies and slander, and Giorgos Papandreou took legal action.

Therefore, it is impossible to say that half a billion euros were actually found in the Papandreou family. It is correct to speak only about loud accusation, not officially confirmed by the investigation.

The Lagarde list itself turned out to be a real scandal

Although Margarita Papandreou’s connection with the largest account was not confirmed, the scandal surrounding the list itself had very real criminal consequences.

Former Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou was accused of removing information about three of his relatives from a copy of a list given to Greece. In 2015, a special court found him guilty of forgery, mitigating the original charges.

You can read more about this in the publication “Papakonstantinou received a suspended sentence in the Lagarde list case”.

Athens News also reported on the progress of the verification of alleged Greek owners of foreign accounts in the material “Gentlemen, draft dodgers, or at the bottom of Lagarde’s list”.

Why two words survived the political era

The phrase “λεφτά υπάρχουν” became a political meme not because it itself led Greece to bankruptcy. The causes of the debt crisis were years in the making and included chronic budget deficits, debt accumulation, problems with the tax system, clientelism and distortion of government statistics.

But the historical sequence turned out to be destructive for Papandreou:

• September 10, 2009 – “there is money”;
• October 4 – PASOK’s convincing victory;
• April 23, 2010 – appeal for international assistance;
• May 2010 – first memorandum;
• subsequent years – falling incomes, mass unemployment and social crisis.

Lagarde’s list and unproven accusations against the family of the former prime minister were later added to this.

Papandreou himself continues to insist that he warned about money being lost due to corruption and an ineffective state. His opponents consider the phrase a deliberate election promise that hid the real state of the economy.

Seventeen years later, the debate about what exactly he meant continues. But in Greek political history, these two words have already taken on a life of their own – as a reminder of how costly promises can cost a country when they collide with reality.

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