On Thursday Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called off the public referendum that was set to decide whether Greece would accept the recently developed debt deal with the euro zone. This decision relieved some of the political tension that had escalated because of Greece's initial decision to hold a referendum. European Union leaders looking to keep the EU intact, primarily Germany and France, were appalled that the Greek public would decide whether or not to accept their debt deal. The agreement reached last week would write down Greek debt in exchange for austerity measures and a commitment to the euro as Greece's currency. News that the referendum was called off spurred an upturn in European markets as well as markets abroad. Prime Minister Papandreou faces a tough confidence vote this Friday which will have large implications on the fate of the Euro zone debt crisis.
Matt Russo
POLS 184
John 11:00AM Discussion Section
I think that it is interesting that Prime Ministr Papandreou would even consider where to takae the the deal or not. Greece is in such a financial hardship that they should be looking to any way that would try to get them out of debt. I understand that Greece might not want to change to the Euro as their currency (they can't change the inflation to help them), but at this point that isn't really option since they have changed it to such an extent that it doesn't help them anymore really. I think that they should take the deal.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Reichardt
Maness Friday 9:00 am class
It doesn't really matter in the end. This is a band-aid on a bullet wound. The fact of the matter is all this is doing is giving the EU time to kick Greece out before it goes belly up. you combine Greece with Italy, Portugal, and Spain and you have a recipe for disaster. Germany and France seem like they are just trying to remove the dead wood before winter comes.
ReplyDeleteZachary Tolan
Friday 10:00am, Ryan Maness