Callanan: Greek default would show EU leaders have accepted reality
Posted, February 12, 2012 @ 13:00
As the Greek parliament today votes on its latest austerity measures – aimed at securing the 130 billion Euro bailout package – European Conservatives and Reformists group chairman Martin Callanan MEP has warned that, regardless of how MPs vote, the bailouts are not going to help Greece.
Mr Callanan, Conservative MEP for North East England, said:“The longer we kick this can down the road, the worse this crisis will become.
“Even if the parliament accepts new austerity measures, the best it will buy is a prolongation of the inevitable. If billions of Euros of taxpayers’ money were being expended to save Greece then there would be a rationale but, at best, this is extending and worsening Greece’s eventual pain.
“The EU is putting its Euro project above Greece. Germany cannot continue to offer Greece as a sacrificial lamb to appease the Euro Gods.
“The harsh reality is that we cannot make the Greeks into Germans no matter how hard Berlin tries. The structural weaknesses of Greece’s economy cannot be reformed from Berlin and Brussels.
“There is no way that it can end well so the least-worst option is to allow Greece to default and devalue. It will be an extremely painful action but it’s always better to tear a plaster off quickly.
“Public opinion in Greece and across the EU is at breaking point. We are kicking the can down the road and doing anything other than tackling the fundamental problems. Our leaders owe it to the taxpayers and voters, and to the Euro itself, to finally grasp this nettle and prepare the rest of the Euro for a Greek default.”