The risk of Grexit is back on agenda after three emergency bailouts and the biggest debt restructuring in history, says the Guardian in an article written by Helena Smith on the occasion of today’s Eurogroup meeting.
“I think the situation right now is more dangerous than it was last summer,” the former finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis told the Guardian.
“Then it was a question of the political will of a few people,” he said, referring to the tumultuous negotiations that paved the way to Athens receiving a third bailout in August. “Now it’s a question of implementing reforms and working hard and if a government doesn’t believe in them and implements them begrudgingly, progress becomes very difficult.”
As the article mentions, today’s meeting comes at an especially sensitive time with Greek unemployment remaining the highest in Europe at almost 25% and many companies relocating to Bulgaria, Albania, Romania and Cyprus as a result of over-taxation.
Meanwhile, the tourism trade has taken a hit since bookings to Greek islands have collapsed because of refugee arrivals.
After three emergency bailouts and the biggest debt restructuring in history, talk once again has turned to the country dropping out of the single currency.
