Main focus of Thursday, February 9, 2012

Greeks swallow bitter pill

Papademos presented an agreement three days later than promised. (© AP/dapd)

Greece's governing parties approved the troika's sweeping austerity package late Wednesday night, with the exception of the demanded pension cuts. The constant delays will cost Greece its head, warn some commentators, while others say the rigid austerity programme will lead straight to perdition.

Cinco Días - Spain

The fact that the Greek party leaders still haven't reached complete agreement on the austerity package prompts the business paper Cinco Días to compare the country with a stubborn patient: "The situation in Greece brings to mind a patient who has been diagnosed by the doctors and urgently prescribed a course of treatment. They explain to the patient what will happen if he doesn't take the medicine or refuses to undergo an operation, but the patient still won't be hurried into anything and insists on taking time to make his own decision about what to do or not to do. The catch here is that Greece is not an isolated case but extremely contagious. And its lack of discipline poses a threat not just to a couple of neighbours but the entire community. … The potential disorderly bankruptcy about which there has been so much speculation and an exit from the monetary union would have unforeseeable consequences for Europe, which is stumbling along as if caught in a sandstorm." (09/02/2012)

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Greece, » Europe

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

The constant delays of the Greek politicians are irresponsible and dishonest, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung complains: "There are no words for how irresponsible this behaviour is towards their own people and also their partners in the Union. … Transparency and candidness are the virtues needed right now, but instead the Greek party machinery is caught up in murky interest games and spreading half-truths about the real state of the country and the role of the rescuers. This type of communication in such an emergency situation leads to only one conclusion: … We urgently need a bad guy who finally voices the ugly word 'insolvency'. The creditors are provoking Greece (with threats like the idea of deploying supervisors from Brussels). And the Greek politicians are provoking with their annoying couldn't-care-less attitude. The result: on both sides the aggression is intensifying." (09/02/2012)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Greece, » Europe
All available articles from » Stefan Kornelius
Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits, » Ways out of the debt crisis

Il Sole 24 Ore - Italy

Because Athens will not cut pension supplements it must present the troika with alternative proposals within 15 days for how to cut its spending by the demanded 300 million euros. But economising is a German one-way street, writes the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore: "The European answer to the mismanagement in Athens remains one-sided: economise, economise, economise - along with brutal enforced reforms. This punitive ideology could sooner or later produce a violent backlash - both at a political and a social level. This reaction could spread like wildfire to other Eurozone countries subjected to similarly harsh austerity measures. The one-way street recipe which demands great sacrifices without offering prospects of development or the hope of rapid improvement could lead to a disastrous short circuit in the Eurozone, which has fallen victim to Germany's one-sided perspective."  (09/02/2012)

» more information (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Greece
All available articles from » Adriana Cerretelli

De Morgen - Belgium

The austerity measures enacted in Greece have led to shrinking incomes and social problems, writes the left-liberal daily De Morgen and warns Europe not to drive the country into misery: "In just a few months Greece has slipped to the level of a fourth-world country. … The Greek austerity plan is partly based on extra taxes for the workers who no longer have any leeway, never mind the strength to boost the economy. … The European project grew out of the idea that solidarity and cooperation are far better than rivalry and war. What we are now seeing in Greece has little to do with the European dream. … If Europe wants to prove that it is a truly great project then the moment has come to do so, not by holding a knife to the citizens' throats but by offering them clever and caring support." (09/02/2012)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Greece
All available articles from » Koen Vidal
Who's saying what » Greece in dire straits, » Ways out of the debt crisis

» To the complete press review of Thursday, February 9, 2012