How to destroy a country. The economics and the politics of the Greek crisis (on the book by J. K. Galbraith “welcome to the poisoned chalice: the destruction of Greece and the future of europe” and not only)

Abstract

The economic future of Europe depends on the combination of many processes, not only strictly economic ones. Currently, the situation is becoming quite complicated, with a number of particularly adverse tendencies overlapping and mutually strengthening one another. Adding to the classical problems involving the economic slowdown, high unemployment rate and insufficient innovation of the European economy, is the immigration crisis, the escalating terrorist threat and Brexit, as well as the risk of Grexit. The potential overlapping of Brexit and Grexit could be fatal for European integration. Solving the Greek syndrome requires a radical change in the way the European Union, especially Germany, approaches this problem. On the one hand, specific structural reforms and fiscal adjustments are necessary in Greece, but on the other hand, there’s a necessity for a conditional reduction of the Greek public debt by half. What is needed in the long run, is to ensure that some countries’ surpluses are not financed with others’ deficits and debts.