Greece turns a corner



A society poised for recovery?


The Greek parliament has accepted the terms of the further austerity package on which the next European bail-out depends.

There are still other hurdles to be passed before the funds are actually made available. the eurogroup of finance ministers must approve; the Bundestag must approve; an agreement must be concluded with the private creditors.

Additionally the Greek government has to give an undertaking to its European saviours that the measures will be irreversible and implemented by any future elected (or unelected) Greek government. A general election is scheduled for April.

If those hurdles are cleared the great bulk of the 130 billion Euros of funds will be held in an account to which no Greek has any access and used directly to pay interest on Greece's international loans.

Unsurprisingly international markets are rallying despite growing violence, anarchy and suffering on the Greek streets. The new package will be insufficient to free the economy from the debt burden and enable it to escape from economic shrinkage.


Light at the end of the tunnel

Everyone knows that, but in the meantime, until the next crisis is reached, international interests will continue to profit, whilst the Greek economy and Greek society is cordonned off in a kind of ghetto. Greece is, in international or even European terms, a small economy (and 'Europe as a whole is in external balance and should be able to solve its own internal problems'), but wealth can still be extracted from Greece, and the radical failure of its finances could unravel the knitted sleeve of international banking and finance.