Posted on 03/07/2016 3:39:14 PM PST by Lorianne
After three emergency bailouts and the biggest debt restructuring in history, talk has again turned to the country dropping out of the currency union ___
European finance ministers will once again deliberate over how to treat Greece’s ongoing debt crisis this week despite the country desperately grappling with refugees pouring across its borders.
A meeting on Monday of finance ministers from the eurozone will determine whether creditors are to be given the green light to complete a long-delayed review of Greek economic recovery plans.
The review has been held up by disagreement among lenders over how much more Athens needs to cut from public spending. It is seen as key to reviving Greece’s banking sector and restoring business and consumer confidence.
“I think the situation right now is more dangerous than it was last summer,” the former finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis told the Guardian.
“Then it was a question of the political will of a few people,” he said, referring to the tumultuous negotiations that paved the way to Athens receiving a third bailout in August. “Now it’s a question of implementing reforms and working hard and if a government doesn’t believe in them and implements them begrudgingly, progress becomes very difficult.”
Monday’s meeting comes at an especially sensitive time. Greek unemployment remains the highest in Europe at almost 25% – and just under 50% among the young. Many companies are relocating to Bulgaria, Albania, Romania and Cyprus as a result of over-taxation.
Meanwhile, the once booming tourism trade has taken a hit as bookings to Aegean isles have collapsed because of refugee arrivals. Last week, it was announced by Greece’s official statistics agency, Elstat, that the debt-stricken nation had dipped back into recession.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Don’t may of the migrants enter Europe through Greece?
If Greece was removed from the EU, would that mean a new border between Greece and the EU?
A lot arrive by sea from Turkey. The EU has insisted they take them.
Sounds like where they are heading with this.
Grexit or Brexit? We’ll see which happens first. I predict Brexit.
The EU and the euro are two different compacts. Theoretically they can force Greece to,leave the euro but still have EU obligations.
Doesn’t this have something to do with the definition of insanity?
My family had discussed a trip to Greece, Turkey, and the Holy Land but since the whole Syria thing started up we’ve simply stayed home. We might visit British Columbia and Washington state in the fall but that’s it. Greece is a no-go.
“Meanwhile, cuts to pensions, which have been slashed numerous times since the onset of the crisis in late 2009, are unthinkable for the government.”
How “thinkable” will it be for the government to cut pension payments to zero euros but instead pay with billion dollar Drachma “notes” when the EU finally quits shoveling their taxpayers’ hard earned money to the freeloading Greeks?
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