Main focus of Monday, February 15, 2010

Greece loses autonomy

The EU has imposed huge spending cuts on Greece in a bid to reduce its state budget deficit. Athens thus loses its financial autonomy, the European press comments, and holds Brussels partially responsible for Greece's plight.

El País - Spain

The Greek government must fulfill the tough conditions laid out by the EU to get its ailing economy back on track. But in doing so Athens will be giving up control of its own finances, the left-liberal daily El País writes: "Europe has come to Greece's rescue, it's true, but in return Athens will be forced to give up its last remnant of sovereignty: its fiscal prerogative. For a long time there had been suspicions that the public budget was entirely fabricated, but when your deficit goes from 3.7 percent to 12.7 percent in the space of a day it's only logical that the markets you turn to to finance that debt will react unpleasantly. Greece has lost the war: Athens is already waving the white flag. Difficult adjustments that translate into a substantial decrease in real income and heavy debt servicing await the country." (15/02/2010)

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Eleftherotypia - Greece

For the left-liberal daily Eleftherotypia the real menace to Greece is not the repercussions of a new austerity programme or EU control of the Greek budget, but possible intervention by the International Monetary Fund: "The problem isn't the restriction of our sovereignty. When we entered the EU we accepted its conditions. The EU does limit our freedom as far as international agreements go - especially in the economic and social sectors. And also our entry into the economic and monetary union, the Eurozone, put an end to Greece's autonomy in matters of monetary policy. The problem is the restriction of democracy. Nothing is less democratic than the IMF. Its history bears testimony to this. The Fund's unpopular, anti-social measures have led the states that needed its help into catastrophe." (14/02/2010)

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Magyar Nemzet - Hungary

The EU has failed in its economic supervision of Greece, the conservative daily Magyar Nemzet complains, commenting on Greece's debt crisis: "This raises the inevitable question of what all the experts, advisors, statisticians, and economics departments including their directors are doing in the EU. The question is justified in that the EU has been duped by Greece for decades. Are the economic experts in Brussels just there to give their blessing to any economic data that is put under their noses? If Greece was able to fool those in charge at the EU in such a way shouldn't we be looking for the culprits of the current Greek situation in Brussels? ... As long as the people in Brussels are not held accountable for wrong decisions and omissions the EU will remain alien and suspect to European citizens. It certainly is at the moment." (15/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Greece, » Europe
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