Tuesday 1 December 2009

Greece faces meltdown


GREECE faces economic collapse as well as an insurrection, latest media reports suggest.

Said The Guardian on Monday: "The likelihood of Greece becoming the next Iceland and plunging into bankruptcy looms over a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels today as the Greeks prepare to take another pasting from their colleagues.

"After years of profligacy, hosting the costliest Olympic games ever in 2004 and failing to rein in its spiralling public debt, the country was on the brink of defaulting on loans, according to some seasoned commentators.

"National debt – the highest in the EU and projected to rise to 135.4 % in 2011 – has made the outlook grimmer still. After years of posting 4% growth rates, the economy is expected to contract 1.2% in 2009 with unemployment levels tipped to top 9% amid growing poverty."

The news comes days before December 6, the anniversary of the death of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos, shot by police in Athens, which sparked last winter's uprising.

EU politicians are worried that the economic failure, as well as the insurrection, could spread to other European states.