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Author : N. Platoshkin
Professor, Doctor of Science (Law), President of the European Academy for Security and Conflictology,
Slovakia
LAZY like all other South Europeans, Greeks
have been living beyond the means for many
years. This is what the core EU countries (Ger-
many in the first place) and the United States
think about the roots and causes of the grave
economic crisis in Greece. This answers the first
question. The answer to the second has been al-
ready supplied by the so-called friends of
Greece from among the EU members and the
notorious "masters of disasters" of the IMF:
The Greeks should trim social spending, tighten
their belts and wait for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Both the diagnosis and the treatment prescribed by the medics from Washington and Brussels
are off-target. They are far removed from the truth and, as a classic said in his time, from the
people. The Greek people in this case.
The Greek national crisis is rooted in the past and is aggravated by the financial and economic
factors of the present.
It should be said that the so-called EU partners of Greece never hesitated to credit it; they were
especially willing to lend money to the New Democracy government (in 2004-2009). Until 2010,
nobody in Brussels talked about the "lazy Greeks." Western banks were growing rich at their ex-
pense.
European "aid" bore "fruit." In 2010, the country's GDP dropped by 5.4%; in 2011, by 8.9%;
in 2012, by 6.6%. In 2011, the sovereign debt of Greece reached 171.3% of GDP. By that time,
European banks had sold about half of their Greek bonds to American hedge funds at a sensa-
tional profit: The securities produced huge interest.
It seems that Greece should join the Czech Republic and Poland; it should quit the Eurozone
and revive its national currency which should be as cheap in relation to the Euro as the Czech
crown. This will make Greek agricultural products cheaper and more competitive.
This does not look like fashionable innovations yet proud Poland was flourishing on potatoes
and apples it sold to Russia in the pre-sanction times. Indeed, crisis or no crisis people have to
eat. Its currency helped Warsaw negotiate the 2008-2009 crisis which doomed Greece.
In view of the historical and spiritual ties between our peoples, Russia should extend financial
assistance to Greece, yet no matter how much money is poured into Greek economy from
Moscow (or Beijing or any other capital, for that matter) no positive effects will follow if Athens
goes on with what the Troika recommends: No more holes can be punched into the belt.
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
The Greek Crisis: Who Is to Blame? What Is to Be Done?