Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Europe’s Greek Headache

The situation in Greece continues to grow more out of control by the day. Runaway debt, riots in the streets that show no signs of slowing, and now the Greek debt titlewave may be preparing to claim another victim: Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou.

 Papandreou is now facing a party revolt and a no confidence vote after calling for a referendum on the European Union’s latest bailout package. The call for referendum angered many European leaders, but others saw the referendum as Papandreou’s commitment to austerity measures and debt relief.

What worries me beyond the obvious ramifications for a teetering Europe, is that Greeks are rioting in the streets and setting fires and Papandreou offers a referendum? Although, I applaud his commitment to democratic processes, he needs to take bold action and a referendum doesn’t seem bold enough.

 What happens if the measure fails on referendum? Can Greece really afford to say no to Europe? This would be like spitting in the face of Europe and may prove to waste valuable time that neither Greece, nor Europe can afford. Can we really afford three months of riots?

No comments:

Post a Comment