Latest update: 26/03/2010
EU leaders divided by Greek crisis
The Greek debt crisis has opened up critical new fault lines in Europe.
At the heart of the dispute: should Eurozone states shell out to help Greece or let the International Monetary Fund deal with Greek debt? Germany is something of a lone voice in calling for IMF help and advocating that future bad debtors be kicked out of the single currency.
Comments (1)
Greece
The so-called EU “bailout” deal for Greece just announced is ridiculous. Greece must exit the eurozone, devalue the drachma, restructure its debt and borrow from the IMF at 3.5% interest, if needed, instead of at 6% from the markets or from its eurozone “partners”.
Whether there is in fact any point remaining in the EU at all is a valid question. Because it is well established in economic theory that a monetary and trade union increases the divergences in competitiveness, and this is the root of the problem. Because intra-EU imbalances and structural weaknesses are now too evident. And because, without solidarity, the EU is kaput.
This is the best course of action for all the GISPI (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland). Let the FUKD (or FUKDE, as Edward Hugh has called them, i.e. France, UK, Deutchland ) keep the EU for themselves. Sorry UK, you're not to blame. You did the right thing staying out of the euro.
And let the Germans sell an island (in the North Sea) and a monument (as they have suggested to the Greeks), because they are also now above the 3% deficit-to-GDP ratio. Did I say German monument? What monument???
Now how can Europe, which owes even its name to Greece, exist without Greece, that's another question.
Apart from the so-called "moral hazard" in helping Greece, there is also a moral deficit in the EU…
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