Since Friday’s meeting, it appears as though Greek officials
are experiencing more pressure from the eurozone’s finance chiefs. The Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis described the meeting’s atmosphere to be
intense, tough, and hostile. The environment was such since there has been a
lack of progress for agreements on planned overhauls and reforms even though
the deadline is at the end of April. Furthermore there has been a lack of
agreement between Athens and its international creditor on debt payments.
Although many of the official and finance chiefs from other Eurozone countries
are losing hope and becoming more frustrated, Varoufakis said that not reaching
a deal with Greece’s creditors is not an option and that compromises will have
to be made. Varoufakis is under a strict deadline since the Greece
international bailout deal expires at the end of June and will cost the Greek
government 6 billion euros. The general thought for all the members of Fridays
meeting can be summarized by what Mario Draghi – president of the European
Central Bank – said: “Time is running out.” Time is definitely an issue
especially when the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras refuses further budget
cuts and changes to the labor market.
Do you think that Greece will make the necessary budget cuts
and changes to the labor market?
I think if the citizens and other members of the government can put enough pressure on the prime minister to do what's necessary to get Greece's economy on track but if not it's not looking good for Greece not to default.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Taylor that the citizens could potentially put enough pressure on the prime minister to make the necessary changes since it seems that other countries are unable to negotiate with him very much. I will say that I don't know what the sentiments are among the citizens in terms of if they support or blame their government with the current economic crisis. Given the different events that we have seen in the past few weeks I think a default by Greece is pretty likely.
ReplyDeleteI mean, seeing as though it was the Greek citizens who voted for the new party of Alexis Tsipiras I think it is rather unlikely that they will be the ones to pressure him to conform with the wishes of the rest of the members of the EU. Unless there is a miraculous change in politics on both sides of the issue, it doesn't look like any sound negotiation will be reached and time will in fact run out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shelby, I feel like the already suffering Greek population would be against further budget cuts and changes to the labor market. This most likely is the reason why Prime Minister Tsipras is taking such a hard stance on the issue.
ReplyDeleteDespite the determination that Varoufakis shows by stating "not reaching a deal with Greece’s creditors is not an option" I'd argue that from what little progress we've seen in Greece recently, defaulting is not only an option, it's what is likely to happen.
I have to agree with Taylor that if the citizens are able to pressure the prime minister to change Greece's economic track going forward then they might do what is necessary to fix this, such as these budget cuts. Although this seems logical, I also agree with Shelby that the citizens elected this party into office and will most likely not put pressure on them to make a critical decision such as this.
ReplyDeleteI think that Greece has a lot of leverage in this situation. If they default the eurozone is in major trouble. If they don't, the payments will have to be pushed back so Greece can attempt to stimulate their economy. Either way, it's a no-win situation for the EU. In this scenario it is tough to know what to do, but in the end I think that the payments will be pushed back again. Greece is too big to let fail.
ReplyDeleteI have a similar view as the above commentator. To be truthful, I think that Greece can potentially meet the deadline, if the citizens put pressure on their prime minister to make the much needed budget cuts. I think the prime minister appears to be weighing all him option and possibly buying more time, which I may add is not the best decision considering other eurozone countries are increasingly beginning to lose patience with the country. It is beginning to seem like the Greek prime minister knows the country is too big to fail and, that may actually be an incentive for him to not make the necessary regulatory policy decisions.
ReplyDeleteI think Greece would be a little more likely to default if the EU didn't have so much at stake. I think the EU knows this and will work hard so this doesn't happen. However, the fact remains that the status quo doesn't seeming promising.
ReplyDeleteI think Greece should and has to meet the deadline. As many of you said, the population in Greece should pressure the country to do so. On the other hand, a default will negatively affect the Eurozone.
ReplyDelete