Greece should leave the €uro, pursue an export-led recovery and, Boris concludes, "Bob's your uncle", problem solved

Comments

[TomTom]

Boris is an economic genius. He can eat enough olives to pay down 450 billion Euros of debt. Or is he going to drink enough Retsina ? Maybe Ouzo ?

If he ever briefed himself properly he'd know Greece is a backward agrarian country way over its head in debt because it consumed like n industrial power but produced like an agricultural community with feather-bedded public sector.

Maybe Boris can apply his logic to Britain and suggest what Britain should export to pay off its huge international liabilities ?

[Dawn Carpenter]

Sovereign debt isn't like individual debt. The bailiffs can't come in and repossess your country. Greece can grow its own food, bring back and float its drachma, make itself available to tourists from all over the world, and just get on with its life. It should get out of the EU and so should we.

[Elaine Turner]

I would be very interested to know just what he thinks they have to export... sunshine, olive oil, beautiful islands... you can't really package those for consumption away from Greece - apart from olive oil and you can buy that from anywhere in the Med.. and I would prefer to support British farmers and buy virgin rapeseed oil as I really don't like olive oil!

[Denis Cooper]

I saw Gisela Stuart on TV, pointing out that the EU treaties provide no mechanism for a country to leave the eurozone and warning that unless contingency plans were made now the withdrawal of Greeece would be chaotic and hugely damaging.

When Cameron went to the March 24/25 meeting of the European Council he had the opportunity to insist that the treaties must be amended to include a procedure for a country to make an orderly withdrawal from the euro, but he chose not to do that but instead just gave the Germany and France and other eurozone countries the treaty amendment they wanted to legalise bail-outs.

[TomTom]

Sovereign debt isn't like individual debt.

Your expertise is invaluable Dawn but somewhat suspect. First any Greek aircraft are seized as they land, ships impounded in foreign ports, foreign bank holdings seized. Without borrowings Greece cannot pay its wages and its standard of living will sink to Sub-Saharan African levels with starvation. You are of course wrong on other counts: when Germany was behind on Reparations in 1923 Belgium and France invaded Germany and occupied The Ruhr seizing coal mines, steel mills, factories - in fact the general strike that followed caused the Great Inflation of Weimar If you want to see horrors - watch Greece - then Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Britain, USA. They have only cut public sector wages 20% so far in Greece and the country is going to burn.

BTW RBS is going to be sued for fraud by the US authorities - $800 million

[Toxic Storm Clouds No.1]

I had assumed the previous Bail-out was a stop gap to enable the PIGS to make an ordeley transition from Euro to their own currencies, whether new or old.

If a currency can be affectively abolished and replaced by the Euro why not the other way around with no shock economic consequences. They have had a year to get things in transition, i would be surprised if this had not occured.

Maybe this is why the PIGS have recieved loans form other countries? It would certainly make sense and economic collapse is in nobodies interest. A transistion would be kept hushed up to stop the markets going even more bannana's until a point where it can be embarked upon? A stable transfer of currency, with no shocks and one that has stability underpinning it would be highly beneficial to all european economies.

I still cannot understand why the PIGS were allowed firstly to join and secondly why they wanted to join - the whole car crash was completly forseeable and thankgoodness Hague campaigned on saveing the pound as he did in and around 2001 even though he got little thanks at the time. He was instrumental in making Labour bottle going into the euro.

[RPH]

Boris is correct. The sooner Greece pulls out of the Euro and defaults the better. France and Germany are merely creating an enormous bubble by continually bailling out Greece.

[Tommy Boi Plumbing]

I also agree Greece should leave the euro, as only a massively devalued Drachma would allow them to move towards a current account surplus. It would bring Greece’s debt under control. But, on its own, it would not solve the structural problems in the Greek economy. The truth is that it will take years for Greece to make the internal corrections to improve the competitiveness of its labour market and the efficiency of the state. Quite simply, there is no quick fix for Greece. London Plumber

[Thomas Plumbing London]

I also agree Greece should leave the euro, as only a massively devalued Drachma would allow them to move towards a current account surplus. It would bring Greece’s debt under control. But, on its own, it would not solve the structural problems in the Greek economy. The truth is that it will take years for Greece to make the internal corrections to improve the competitiveness of its labour market and the efficiency of the state. Quite simply, there is no quick fix for Greece. London Plumber

[http://www.karney.co.il]

Informative video I like it. Council had the opportunity to insist that the treaty should be modified to include a procedure for a country to make an orderly withdrawal of euro.