Main focus of Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Athens' euro exit no longer taboo

Greece is already examining a Eurozone exit, according to Commissioner Damanaki. (© dapd).

The vice-president of the EU Commission, Neelie Kroes, on Tuesday declared Greece's exit from the Eurozone justifiable. Kroes was voicing what many European politicians now want, write some commentators, while others see Greece as a victim of the Eurozone's structural flaws.

Europe is sick of Athens

Neelie Kroes has said what many are thinking, writes the business paper Il Sole 24: "The words of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, conceal an obvious impatience with the way Greece is behaving. The Netherlands in particular - perhaps even more than Germany and Finland - is toying with the idea of abandoning Athens to its fate. The EU Commissioner's words are no longer an attempt to exert pressure on the Papademos government. In certain European circles the bitterness has taken on a whole new quality. Their trust in Greek politicians has been exhausted. They fear that the upcoming elections in April will only worsen the situation in the debt-stricken country, rather than improving it." (08/02/2012)

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Greeks are sick of Europe

Athens should immediately end its talks with the creditors and the troika and start working out a plan B with the Americans, writes the left-liberal online paper To Vima: "After the extreme pressure of the last two days and the idea of a 'special blocked account' is there anyone in Greece who still believes that the words 'bailout' and 'solidarity' can be in any way connected to what is being demanded of Athens - with a gun to its head? ... Greece still has the power to blow up the whole thing. And this is the only remaining alternative. What will happen then? After the country has gone through hell - which at this point is inevitable anyway - the same people who are now blackmailing the country and plunging it into the abyss will come back and resume talks. ... The only task for the Greek government now would be to prepare special mechanisms for surviving the days of the big shock. It must turn to international agents like the US, which by the way have remained silent so far." (08/02/2012)

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Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits, » Ways out of the debt crisis

Don't make Greeks pay for euro's failings

Even if EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte are speculating openly about a Greek withdrawal from the Eurozone, allowing Greece to go bankrupt is a risk move, warns the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant: "In the countries of the north the euro crisis is being represented as a matter of budget discipline, yet Spain, a problem country, has always strictly adhered to the rules. The fundamental problem of the Eurozone is the enormous gap between the productivity of the northern countries and that of the southern ones. Greece is an extreme case, but Spain and Portugal will have great difficulties bringing their economies up to northern European levels. ... This structural fault of the euro makes northern Europe responsible for the crisis. Greece is rightly being called on to make greater efforts to put its finances in order. But northern Europe can be expected to show solidarity. The Greeks cannot be left to pay the price of the crisis alone." (08/02/2012)

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Too much expected of Greece

Europe is putting the Greeks under too much pressure, writes the left-leaning daily Pravda and warns that this could trigger a social explosion that reverberates throughout the continent. "The picture of the European public being presented by the Greeks is unbelievable. The news about the negotiations between the government in Athens and the creditors is constantly accompanied by politicians and investors making disgruntled comments about the lack of progress being made. The remarks are always the same: Athens isn't moving forward, the reforms are inadequate. One hears much less about how harsh the cuts in salaries and pensions already are and how much public spending and debts have already been reduced. The real problem is the unrealistic expectations of the authors of the 'recovery programme'. Cutbacks alone won't trigger new growth but they may cause the already tense social situation to escalate." (08/02/2012)

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Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits, » Ways out of the debt crisis

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