November 7, 2011
Embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stepped down last night to allow the formation of a new caretaker government in Athens that will pass a European Union bailout plan, and, the hope is, avert chaos in international markets and Greece’s possible default.
Without a broad-based interim government in Greece, it is questionable whether the 130 billion euro bailout plan can be accepted politically. And without the bailout plan, Greece faces the prospect of leaving the eurozone and will not qualify for an 8-billion euro loan that it needs in December.
The Papandreou government is the third government in Europe to collapse this year amid fallout from a two-year debt crisis.
“A new government will help,” says a skeptical Philip Whyte of the Center for European Reform in London. “But even a unity government will be hard pressed to accept the measures that Greeks are being asked to swallow. Greece is having to cut spending faster than the country is presently contracting.”
More
No comments:
Post a Comment