Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 

13 February 2012

CNN: Greece after the vote - a country still on the brink (Graham Bishop article)


Default: Change to:


The Greek Parliament has voted, protesters have protested, buildings are burning: What next? The tranche of funding Greece needs will probably be disbursed and default -- at least in March -- will be avoided.


But, but, but...the feeling has changed. The media focuses on austerity and cuts so misses the central change in attitudes in the rest of the European Union, as trust in the ability of the Greek political class to deliver on their promises sinks ever lower.

November's International Monetary Fund report commented that "technical delays prevented any privatisation sales during the third quarter... structural reforms have not yet delivered the expected results, in part due to a disconnect between legislation and implementation".

As foreign officials probe deeper into the mechanics of the Greek state, the scales seem to be falling from their eyes and they see that there is not a functioning public administration. It may not even be possible to spend the unspent EU structural funds -- even when there is a drastic cut in the requirement for matching funds from Greece. This is now the core of the problem and explains the insistence of ECOFIN (the European Union's economic and finance ministers) on public commitments by all political leaders to the programme.

Full article



© CNN


< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information



Add new comment