Yesterday was an emergency summit of the European Union, which was devoted to the problems of Greece, on the brink of default. Failure, which concluded the summit was a great shock to all of the financial markets, which led to the collapse of the euro prices.
Greece was waiting for the question will be decided at a meeting to be granted assistance from the EU. But the result was just calling to Athens - "implement all the tasks strong and decisive manner, in order to reduce the budget deficit by four percentage points in 2010." In the final statement said the eurozone "will take determined and coordinated action, if there is a threat to the stability of the eurozone as a whole." As the Chairman of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, "the allocation of funds in Greece has not been raised since the Greek government had not requested any financial assistance. So we should not now speculate on various scenarios, which at present is not relevant ".
Bytree of the issue will be postalen Greece at the upcoming meeting of EU finance ministers. But it may be a waste of time, which affect the situation in the whole EU. Absolutely absurd, is the view that Greece deal with the problem on their own. In confirmation of this in Greece swept strike, in which the Greeks made it clear they were not going to lower the standard of living because of the problems caused by, in their opinion, the actions of the government and big business.
If the Greek authorities will try to at least partially implement unpopular measures such as budget cuts, social programs and the salaries of civil servants, the economic crisis are most likely to turn into a political, then the probability of sovereign default reaches 100%.
Greek default dramatically increase the risk of defaults, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. In 2010, Ireland's budget deficit could reach 11.7%, Portugal - 8.3%, Spain - 10%. Greece's budget deficit is the largest - 12.7%. Countries loser has been dubbed "pigs" - in consonance with the acronym PIIGS on the first letters of their names.
If the euro zone still start defaults, it will be a great shock to the world, surpassing the power of consequences of the mortgage crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers. In question may be the fate of the euro and the euro zone itself. Recall that in the beginning of the century, the famous economist, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman predicted the collapse of the euro and the collapse of the eurozone. Today, his forecast does not look so fantastic, a few years ago.
One can not exclude the fact that the EU has deliberately refused to consider the possibility of providing financial assistance to Greece, fearing that in this case, will be pulled by the other "pigs." Meanwhile, similar educational impulses associated with greater risk, as the situation in Greece could explode at any time, after which it razrulit will be much harder, and it will cost a lot more. Greek default and the threat of defaults other "pigs" make EU recourse to the IMF, which earlier in Brussels do not strongly wanted. Last resort may be the exception of Greece from the euro area (perhaps with the right of recovery). Until recently, European officials have vowed that such an option is not an option, but in the background of the threat of losing the eurozone these oaths hardly anyone remembers.
In short, European officials still have some time to reflect on the situation and come back to the question is not moral, but a real rescue of Greece. For pulling out of the swamp the whole of Europe will be no one left.
