Galery

1

Is there any danger of repealing the decisions of the summit of October 26?

I would not like such a thing to happen, but I could not imagine this agreement not undergoing any changes. For example, I believe that private sector involvement in the programme for resolving the debt crisis in Greece will be greater than 50%. The idea of ​​PSI is to make the foreign debt sustainable. This means that the reduction of the face value of Greek government bonds held by individuals might reach higher levels. As an economist, I think that the more the debt is reduced, the better for Greece. We will have to pay fewer duties and less interest on them.

The bad thing is that we are involved in the debt restructuring process because the stamp of the irregular debtor remains. The moment we started this process, things changed. First, we do not know whether PSI + will be implemented. Assuming that it is applied, I would like to stress that the reduction of the debt by 50% is better than by 21%, as was decided in July 2011. If this percentage were 70%, it would be even better for us, but it depends on how the banks and our foreign creditors are able to take this burden. The greater the haircut, the better for Greece.

Is there any risk that Greece may exit the area if the agreements of October 26 are not implemented?

There is no legal basis to suggest a member state be excluded from the currency union. Technically, only we can gouge out our own eyes, figuratively speaking. If Europe does not give us the money under the agreed financial assistance, we will again be at risk of exiting the area, because the financial aid actually gives us time to put our domestic economic structure in order, while the Europeans and the International Monetary Fund pay our foreign debt. We have lost this time, however.