EU commissioners have a “profound sense of foreboding” about Greece and the future of the eurozone, a leaked account of a meeting has suggested.
The document, seen by BBC News, said this was in reaction to the “damning failure” of eurozone ministers to agree a new bail-out for Greece last night.
The internal memo was written by an official who attended Wednesday’s gathering of commissioners in Brussels.
The author warned that the markets would now “smell blood”.
While it is certainly true that European ministers should deal with this, Greece is a relatively arid country with few natural resources. It has two major industries: transport, including shipping because of its location and a history of trading; and tourism. With the world recession, transport has been hit, and the Europeans who holiday in Greece are not flushed with funds. Since joining the EU, Greece has been in receipt of considerable funds from the European Union, and has borrowed heavily. However, the sums do not add up. It has a government, if you can call it that, which does not collect taxes, but has continued to spend, and a workforce, if you can call it that, who are inclined to view itself as entitled to certain things.
While EU finance ministers may not have tackled lending even more funds to Greece, the Greeks themselves have made, as far as one can see, absolutely no effort themselves. They remain however, great people, and absolutely charming.
Well, PM, many drunks and drug addicts can be charming, especially if it facilitates another fix.
Seems to me like it’s time for some tough love in Europe, and in the USA. Going through detox is uncomfortable, but it beats death by overdose.
The thing is, and the reason why we cannot let Greece go to the wall is that it is a NATO bulwark in SE Europe. It acts as a stablising influence on the Balkans nations, and a local leader of them. One also has to remember that after WWII Greece was riven by conflicts between monarchists and communist partizans; just under the surface that communist element is still there, and there is a very nasty anarchist subculture – all this a lid is kept on, while the country remains solvent. Until recently, Greece has a terrorist cell, the CIA counted the most dangerous in the world. It turned out to be headed by a university professor. US and UK diplomats there were targeted.
That is why we cannot exercise ‘tough love’ with Greece – it keeps the lid on the ‘Balkan problem’ which has been there for over a century, and Greece is very strategic to all of us indeed. Nevertheless its economy is a basket case.
Greece is a second world country masquerading as first world. The stitch up job that is the EU has encouraged this. For too long it has lived beyond its means, living on German largesse.
Yes, the country lacks resources, but so does Singapore. Why does it prosper? The problems are political and cultural. The parties bribe the people with their own futures.