Tribune. The great existential challenges that Greece must face today are the external threats to its security, the disastrous situation of its economy, and the migratory crisis. While it is not yet clear which of these three thorny issues could lead the country to disaster, we continue to look at them in a static and subservient manner.
Let us focus here on the economy, which is “at the edge of the cliff”. It is urgent to take measures that go beyond stagnation and unfounded optimism. Greece’s public debt reached 210% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Even though it represented only 120% of GDP, at the start of the crisis, it was deemed unsustainable, and the European Union (EU) had asked for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the problem.
At 210%, how will Greece’s partners assess it? Obviously as a clear sign of bankruptcy, which absolutely justifies a fourth memorandum (Greece had three bailout plans under conditions between 2010 and 2015), let’s say until the year 3000! … ‘does not yet include the results of 2021 or the adverse effects of the pandemic, which will certainly propel it to even more uncontrollable heights.
European economic colony
Greece is thus locked into its status of European economic colony, for an indefinite period. Government announcements of social assistance for the weak, measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises, the optimistic expectation of 32 billion euros from the European recovery fund, are practically erased by the unbearable weight of an uncontrolled debt.
Thus, Greece should be satisfied with the crumbs from the stimulus fund, which will mostly be distributed in the form of imports of electric cars and other new technology products from northern Europe. It is true that, in the past, it did not have the courage to prevent the destruction of its agricultural sector by the common agricultural policy, and of its growing industry by uncontrolled globalization. For ten consecutive years, it has signed memoranda presented as “our salvation”, despite the 25% drop in its GDP.
In his memoirs, former US President Barack Obama observes, however, that“They [ses homologues européens] rarely mentioned the fact that German and French banks were among Greece’s largest creditors or that most of Greece’s debt was accumulated because of exports of German and French products to Greece – facts they could have explained to their constituents as the reason they wanted to save the Greeks. They were perhaps worried that this would set their constituents against them for being responsible for monitoring the banks ” (A Promised Land, Crown editions, 2020).
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