Greece’s Newest Odyssey
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
NYT
Athens
For a man whose country’s wobbly finances have kept the world on edge for months, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, evinces an Obama-Zen-like calm. He is just back from meeting fellow European Union leaders, who decided to try to stave off a Greek meltdown and an E.U. crackup with a show of overwhelming force — committing nearly $1 trillion to support the economy of any ailing member state. But over a lunch of Greek salad and grilled fish, Papandreou makes clear that he knows that the deal with the E.U. was not your garden-variety bailout-for-budget-cuts. No, if you really look closely at what it will take for Greece to mend its economy, this is actually a bailout-for-a-revolution. Greece’s entire economic and political system will have to change for Greeks to deliver their side of this bargain.
Papandreou says he is ready and so, too, he insists, is his country: “People are saying to me, ‘change this country — go ahead and change it.’ People realize that it needs change. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.”
How Greece performs will not only affect Greeks, but the value of the euro and the whole 27-nation European Union. Yes, I know, the E.U. is the world’s most opaque and boring organization. But it is actually America’s not-so-identical twin and the world’s largest economy. It is, in fact, “the United States of Europe,” and, in my view, two United States are better than one. If this one over here fractures, it will affect everything from how many exports America has in the next year to how many allies America has in the next war.
Sitting in a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Acropolis, I ask Papandreou to put on his safari hat and tell me what it was like to be hunted by the electronic bond herd for six months.
(More here.)
NYT
Athens
For a man whose country’s wobbly finances have kept the world on edge for months, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, evinces an Obama-Zen-like calm. He is just back from meeting fellow European Union leaders, who decided to try to stave off a Greek meltdown and an E.U. crackup with a show of overwhelming force — committing nearly $1 trillion to support the economy of any ailing member state. But over a lunch of Greek salad and grilled fish, Papandreou makes clear that he knows that the deal with the E.U. was not your garden-variety bailout-for-budget-cuts. No, if you really look closely at what it will take for Greece to mend its economy, this is actually a bailout-for-a-revolution. Greece’s entire economic and political system will have to change for Greeks to deliver their side of this bargain.
Papandreou says he is ready and so, too, he insists, is his country: “People are saying to me, ‘change this country — go ahead and change it.’ People realize that it needs change. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.”
How Greece performs will not only affect Greeks, but the value of the euro and the whole 27-nation European Union. Yes, I know, the E.U. is the world’s most opaque and boring organization. But it is actually America’s not-so-identical twin and the world’s largest economy. It is, in fact, “the United States of Europe,” and, in my view, two United States are better than one. If this one over here fractures, it will affect everything from how many exports America has in the next year to how many allies America has in the next war.
Sitting in a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Acropolis, I ask Papandreou to put on his safari hat and tell me what it was like to be hunted by the electronic bond herd for six months.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home