Greece

[jammy395]

The Greek prime-minister is due to make a statement this afternoon

With the crucial referendum coming on Sunday.

Wouldnt be surprised if he mentions Dan and Macca.......

[Daniel Quinn]

Well the greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is a self confessed Marxist .

Unlike our finance minister who will this very coming Wednesday be shafting the poor and enriching the rich further .

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Greece

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times"

[alfafan123]

Well at least their Finance minister has gone so they might have some less confrontational talks with their creditors but I can't see I can't see them or Merkel and Schauble ignoring the financial facts which for Greece worsen by the day. Lets hope the Greeks haven't celebrated in haste only to repent at their leisure.

[selby]

I've got good Greek friends who live in Rhodes and they voted YES, they are terrified at the thought of leaving the Euro. They are doing everything they can to move assets to reduce the damage, the islands have always suffered as Athens was greedy and kept so much money for the themselves.

Very scary.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Given the chance a vast majority of Greeks are crooks, they have made their bed so now they have to sleep in it. "Tax! what is that, oh you mean the bribes we pay to the local tax man, and the local council, and the local police".

I said before the only country with a similar ethos is Russia. Though most of the Balkan and Black Sea states are nearly as bad.

[selby]

Agree, they got themselves in this state with a very poor original currency value negotiation when they joined and then miss-management of funds.

I remember the VAT man arriving at our friends business (holiday apartments) and they spent 2 hours keeping him busy while they typed up a years worth of fake till receipts to give him.

Hopefully it doesn't mess with our finances too much.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

The problem is very simple, and so simple I find it incredible that no one saw it coming. Northern Europe and Southern Europe are not the same, they have different basic views on life that are completely opposed, they can NEVER live together in the same family. And there is even a middle point that has habits and lifestyle from both sides. I would put France and Northern Italy in that category. BUT Portugal, Spain, Southern Italy, Greece, Cyprus are never going to play the game by the same rules, there will always be conflict. A two speed Europe with a Northern Euro is the only answer, but with Italy, France and Ireland in it there will always be problems even then.

[Fretless]

One of the major reasons for including southern Europe in the EU (and why eastern European countries are slowly being admitted), is to give the Northern states access to a cheap labour force. For instance a lot of fruit-picking in the Netherlands is now done by migrant Polish workers.

The Northen countries wanted this, but did not expect a relatively 'developed' economy like Greece to start freeloading on continual subsidies.