Tag: Greek bailout

Last-ditch negotiations to form of a unity government in Greece appeared to reach a dead end yesterday (13 May) when the country’s political parties failed to reach agreement on a mandate. New elections now look almost certain, with the spectre of a eurozone exit looming large. 

On Sunday (6 May), the French will elect a new president, the Greeks will hold general elections, and EU hopeful Serbia will designate their new president, Parliament and local authorities. The stakes appear high not only for the individual countries concerned but also for Europe as a whole.

Demonising tax evasion and corruption in Greece has long been a governmental strategy in order to avoid the politically costly structural reforms that could lead the country out of its current crises, argues Anna Visvizi.

Analysts and politicians concur that the second bailout plan for Greece, agreed yesterday (21 February), has only bought Athens more time, with some already betting on a discreet euro exit for the debt-laden and recession-stricken economy.

Whatever the solution in the tug of war between the Troika and the Greek authorities, it is ordinary Greeks who will be punished for the collective mistakes of their leaders and the mistakes of their colleagues in the other European states, argues Yiannis Roubatis.

With the negotiations balancing on a thin line between bailout and default, what the Greek economy needs is a major reduction of the public sector followed by privatisation and tax reductions, writes Anna Visvizi from the American College of Athens.

Greece will be the ‘the elephant in the room’ at the EU leaders' summit on Monday (30 January), even if a newly revealed shortfall to the proposed second bailout package for the country is not on the formal agenda, according to EU officials.

With a Greek economic crisis matched only by its internal political turmoil, leaders from the world's 20 leading nations scrambled yesterday (3 November) in Cannes to insulate themselves from the next most European vulnerable economy, Italy.