EUROZONE CRISIS PROVOKED BY GREEK ELECTION ?

The victory in the Greek General Election by the radical left SYRIZA party, led by Alexis Tsipras, has caused an earthquake of reactions.  Although the result confirmed all recent expectations the disarray of politicians in Germany, Brussels and Athens is astounding !  

First of all, the underlying facts ; 

Greece (population 11.3 million) has enormous loans of 245 billion Euros from the EUROZONE, the IMF and the European Central Bank which it cannot possibly repay.  Draconian  measures to reorganise Greece, were imposed by the EUROZONE when the loans were granted.  Yet 30% of the workers in Greece are at present unemployed !  Greek business in general has collapsed.  Tsipras declared that he would demand a massive reduction of the 245 billion Debts or Greece would leave the EUROZONE !  

What were the reactions ?  

All EUROZONE leaders this week, in particular Angela Merkel the German Chancellor, refuse to consider a partial write-off of the debt;  they certainly do not want to change EU treaties either, as  this would encourage other countries (Italy, Spain, France) to seek more favourable conditions in line with the Greek hopes !

Some of the problems which have now surfaced in fact date back to 1981 when Greece joined the EU and to 2001 when the EURO was introduced : the accounts presented then were not truthful but gullibly accepted by the EU ! 

Later loans were granted to help Greece but also to prevent it leaving the EUROZONE.   Greeks have suffered increasingly ever since and Tsipras won the election last week because he promised to reorganise Greece and restore Greek pride !  He was elected but wants less Greek debt to be able to fulfill his Election promises !

This week Eurozone Ministers are urgently discussing what can and cannot be done, but also weighing the conséquences.  It is like a game of poker; who will blink first ? 

Tsipras waits patiently.  He seems to have the upper hand !  If the EUROZONE, led by Merkel, refuses to write-off a substantial part of the Greek debt, he could withdraw Greece from the EURO, adopt the former Drachme and in this way obtain the finance he needs to reorganise life in Greece !

Other consequences for the EUROZONE would be probable attempts by other countries, France and Spain, to obtain more favourable operating conditions ! 

Previous articles in this Blog have already indicated what is expected of Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the EU Commission, particularly in connection with Immigration and Migration.  

In good "American" a can of worms seems to be opening up and numerous other closely linked EU problems must also be dealt with.This means that some EU Treaties may have to be modified, i.e. updated and modernised !

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