Wednesday 26 October 2011

EURO PROBLEMS - THE SUMMARY TO-DAY !!!


When Greece initially wanted to join the Euro, it presented its accounts which were not properly audited by the EU.

That was the first big and fundamental mistake.

Greece later found itself in a position of a bankrupt. It could no longer find medium and long term finance at acceptable interest rates on the international financial markets.  The leaders of the EU (President Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany) quickly came to the rescue whereby the EU lent 110 Billion Euros to Greece to avoid a demise of a EURO partner.  Nobody verified the reasons why Greece needed money. 

This was the second fundamental problem.

The aim was to prevent an attack on the EURO !!!  Bravo  !!!  This avoided immediate bankruptcy but Greece was back for more help a year later, when it transpired that all the promised reductions of costs by the Greek Government had not been attained !!!  There were many hesitations and there still are. This has worried world financial markets and the EURO became a suspect currency !!!  

To protect the EURO became the third fundamental problem.

The urgency of the EURO problems has more than doubled with the critical financial condition of Italy and Spain.  These two countries are closely following the solutions expected for Greece and the EURO this week and at the G 20 meeting in Cannes next week.  It is like a game of chess, when it has reached a stalemate situation. 

This is the fourth fundamental problem !!!

There are many questions which still require answering.  For example, why has nobody ever verified the accounts of member countries in the EU or more precisely, in the EUROZONE ?   Mr Barroso was nominated to be the President of the European Commission; should he not have inspected EU member accounts to ensure that worthwhile information was available ?  He has a large team of people around him.

Likewise, Jean-Claude Trichet, the outgoing President of the European Central Bank, was well placed to follow the financial condition of European banks and also the National banks of EU member states.  Was the current run on the EURO a complete surprise for him ?

The Lisbon Treaty was waived through all the Parliaments of the EU (except the Irish Parliament) but did anyone read it ?  Did nobody discover that there were no procedures of what had to be done, if a EU member country, in the EUROZONE or not, became bankrupt ?

The solution to all the foregoing problems and many others as well,  require a fundamental approach.  Should the EU TREATY not be completely revised ?  The current treaty creates more problems than it solves.

Let Greece declare it is bankrupt, leave the EURO and then devalue the Drachma.  The cost of lost loans and others items should fall where they are now.  Protect the EURO with GUARANTEES of a Trillion euros, a good idea which has already been floated. 

One should avoid a repetition of the Greek problem and stop tinkering with bad treaties.
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