Ode to a Grecian mess: EU promises help… if
Today, European Union leaders met in Brussels to talk about Greece and its terrible, great big money woes. With the EU’s biggest players, Germany and France, guiding the way, the member states agreed to bail out Greece, according to a Spiegel Online International article. But only in the case of a “complete emergency.” (“Germany and France Take on the Euro Speculators” by Susanne Amann, Feb 11, 2010)
The article goes to say that in the eyes of Germany and France, a bankrupt Greece is not an option. One, Greece owes the banks in both these countries a lot of money, according to Spiegel, plus there’s an even bigger potential disaster looming:
“…A Greek bankruptcy could result in a collapse of the entire euro system,” says financial market expert Rudolf Hickel with Bremen University’s Institute of Labor and Economy. Currency market speculators are currently earning well by betting against Greece. “After Greece, Spain and Italy would then become the focus of the speculators,” says Hickel “and that is what France and Germany have to stop.”
