WHAT’S THE STORY?
GREECE has “drawn a line” under the banking crisis that almost saw it expelled from the EU, it is claimed.
EU Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici spoke out as the Mediterranean nation ended its third bailout deal with the bloc following years of austerity measures. The country has received £258 billion in loans, including £228bn from its European partners.
CAT BOYD: Greece gave the Left hope... but Syriza had nowhere really to go
SO THE ECONOMY IS BACK TO NORMAL?
DEFINITELY not. While unemployment has shrunk from its 28% high, a massive 19% of the population remains out of work and many remain dependent on soup kitchens. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), just four countries have undergone a more acute economic contraction in the past decade. They include Yemen, Libya, Venezuela and Equatorial Guinea.
While heralding an end to the “existential crisis” in the Eurozone triggered by Greece’s problems, Moscovici said he was “conscious that all those people may not feel that their situation has yet improved much, if at all”.
They include “retirees who saw their pensions slashed, the workers who lost their jobs, the families who lost their homes [and] parents who saw their children leave the country for a better future elsewhere”.
SO IT’S NOT GOOD NEWS?
THE economy is growing, thanks in part to a bumper year in tourism, and exports are up.
But average income has fallen by more than one third, while taxes have risen sharply. Meanwhile, suicide rates have increased and clinical depression has become more common. The government says the country will now be able to support itself. But Deputy Economy Minister Alexis Haritsis conceded that austerity measures imposed despite massive public opposition were “the wrong medicine”.
WHAT HAPPENED?
THE largest bailout in global financial history was never going to go off without unrest. The country was frozen out of bond markets in 2010 when the scale of its deficit became clear and the government agreed to make massive cuts as part of its EU-IMF rescue package.
Violent protests followed and more than 400,000 people left the country in 2013 alone.
Fears the crisis could take down the whole of the eurozone have proven to be unfounded but it did cause political turmoil, with leftist coalition Syriza succeeding the incumbent centre-right New Democracy party in when the country went to the polls in 2015.
SO IS GREECE CLEAR OF ITS DEBTS NOW?
FAR from it. Prime Minister Alex Tsipras may have declared that the country has “managed to stand on her feet again”, but it stills owes the equivalent of 180% of its annual economic output.
The sum will take decades to repay, despite the low interest rates attached. It’s the third loan package that’s ended, but authorities in Athens will still be subject to quarterly meetings to ensure they are hitting stated public finance targets until the final repayment is made in 2060.
Some experts doubt that will be the end of it and predict payments will continue even after this date.
But for now, the country can celebrate regaining the ability to borrow on international markets.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
IT means the return to stability and prosperity in the ancient home of the Olympics is a marathon, not a sprint. Professor Kevin Featherstone, director of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics, said: “For a political system to have gone through these years of austerity, this depth of economic hardship, and maintained a functioning society, a functioning democracy, is testament to the robustness of Greece as a modern state.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel