This is the week Greece finds out whether it will receive a new tranche of EU funds to help it pay its creditors. Or what that last week? Or maybe the week before. In fact, as a colleague pointed out to me earlier today; the official, end-of-the-road, no-way-back, financial-cliff deadline was sometime in late August. The EU moves in mysterious ways.
There are a number of ways in which the ‘Troika’ of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, can extend or delay the decision. This may sound like the worst excesses of Brussels eurocracy – like everything you’ve ever read in the Daily Mail. But maybe it isn’t.
Without this money Greece will be bankrupt; huge sums of national money will be lost to countries like Germany; and the entire single market will suffer economically – bringing the collapse of the euro even closer. So maybe it’s better not to rush these things. The delay has allowed the Greek government to cobble enough support together in its national parliament to give the EU’s austerity plan a mandate. It also means that other national politicians from France and Germany really want Greece to pull through, so they’re bending the rules to make it happen.
Call it what you want, but it’s keeping your economy afloat.
Some things about the Brussels bubble do amaze me though, like walking through the lobby today to see a lavish and expensive looking exhibition/reception being built for this week. The subject? Greece “The Roots of Europe.” I wonder who is paying for that?
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