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| EUROPE HELPS GREECE 12/02/2010 |
| (2010-02-12) |
| Last updated: 2010-02-15 13:23 EET |
Solidarity seems to be working within the European Union as the Union announced on Thursday that it is prepared to help Greece face its devastating budget crisis. The leaders of the 27 EU member states meeting in Brussels agreed in principle to provide assistance to Greece, a country on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of a huge budget deficit amounting to 12.7% of the GDP.
The previous day, tens of thousands of Greek public sector employees went on strike and held rallies to protest against the austerity plan announced by the government. Trade union leaders threaten to continue protests against what they describe as “unjust measures targeting the poorest members of society.” Worried that Greece’s problems might spread to the rest of the euro zone and encourage the rapid devaluation of the single currency, the Europeans have come up with a new anti-crisis strategy.
Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels says the details are yet to be finalised, most likely at a meeting of finance ministers next week. Politically, however, commentators agree that Herman van Rompuy scored his first success as president of the European Council by securing a consensus among the member states. The joint statement of the European leaders confirms both the Union’s solidarity with Greece and the commitment of the government in Athens to reduce the budget deficit to 4% by the end of the year. The community treaty does not allow the European Central Bank to transfer funds to states in difficulty.
Individually or together with other states, the EU member states are free to give financial assistance to their partners. Everybody is looking towards Europe’s strongest economy, Germany, the only country that has the necessary resources, especially as it seems to be coming out of the economic downturn. Berlin’s support would not be disinterested, however, says the Romanian economic analyst Cristian Sima. In his opinion, Germany will not give a loan to Greece, but will buy its so-called toxic assets, just like the Americans did with their own banks.
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