Greece should Quit the Euro and join the £ United Kingdom

[Koeketiene]

Excerpt from Greek on line news

Former Transport Minister Michalis Liapis was due to stand trial on Thursday on charges of false certification and forgery after he was caught by traffic police driving a car with false license plates.

If Chris Hune had been that clever, he wouldn't have had to ask his wife to take his points on her license.

 

[1bobt]

Excerpt from Greek on line news

Former Transport Minister Michalis Liapis was due to stand trial on Thursday on charges of false certification and forgery after he was caught by traffic police driving a car with false license plates.

Liapis was stopped by traffic police in Artemida, eastern Attica, on Tuesday morning for a routine inspection that revealed the license plates of his SUV were forged. He was also driving without a license and could not produce valid insurance.

If convicted, the former conservative minister faces a suspended jail sentence of between six months to five years.


No wonder the Greek people are depressed.

The Judge will be is brother or cousin ....H`ll walk

 

[pelissima]

The Judge will be is brother or cousin ....H`ll walk

Not very few years back I would 100% agree. But things are changing fast now. All media have full cover in extremis and the conservative party showed him the exit. The minister of justice made a public congrats on the respective officers. The incident is not unique as almost daily we see in media people accused for bribery. Again, all this would be unthinkable say 7 years ago. Instead, if he was then arrested -by mistake- the result would be similar to what we see happening today in Turkey. I just cross my fingers this attitude to last and educate a new generation in it.

 

[Tony Cross]

And there's another one....

A Golden Dawn candidate in last parliamentary elections was arrested near Ioannina, in central Greece, late Thursday for driving a luxury SUV with fake license plates.

Reports said Iason Bibos had handed in his genuine license plates in 2012 in order to avoid paying road tax.

Bibos, who has reportedly broken ties with the neofascist party, was to face a prosecutor on Friday.

The incident took place a few days after Michalis Liapis, a former Greek transport minister, was arrested in Athens after running a stop sign in a luxury SUV that was discovered to have fake license plates.

Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_20/12/2013_533239

 

[catmandoo]

Madness? Perhaps not. In size and cost to the exchequer it would be no worse than a pampered Scotland, an incompetently managed Wales and Northern Ireland. Once UK got access to the Greek public sector Thatcheresqe policies could be employed to knock them into shape and HMRC could retrain unemployed special services soldiers as tax collectors. There would be massive investment potential in solar power farms, exotic fruit and veg farming, smarter tourism management etc etc. We would probably sweep up Cyprus in the process. That would put a spoke in the EU/ German economic imperialism which is now hitting Greece and the other weaker states in Europe.
And remember our next king is half Greek.

Pampered Scotland ? Where do you get that Idea ? And who said England was efficient . read the recent news .£27 million to China ! . NHS hospitals in many cities a joke ! poor local government social services found wanting . corrupt politicians , cant make a decision on wher e to locate the next airport .

Small is best

 

[catmandoo]

Don't worry the salmon will cure that.....terminally

But I was going to vote no and now your comment makes me want to vote yes

 

[catmandoo]

Lets look at the facts. Just about every darned thing on this planet was discovered or invented by the British. From TV to photography, from telecommunications to the internet, from tennis to football, from sailboat racing to sailboat ocean cruising, from the English language to the British Empire, From anti-biotics to whatever, etc. The list is endless. I believe the British have played a major part, more than any other country, in forming the civilised world.

Modern politicians with the EU have put out the fires temporarily, but the embers are still smouldering and one day Britain will be back. So grow up and get used to it. We will be back.

And I get a tad fed up with anti- British jealousy and envy. To be British is something VERY special.

I seem to remember a lot of Scots involved in that eg Watt , Stevenson , MacAdam, Telford , Fleming, - A small country punching well above its weight

 

[penfold]

Oldest yacht club "royal" Cork est.1720. Ocean cruising by St Brendan AD 500 approx.

Given Ireland was more or less part of the UK at that point, that makes yacht racing a pretty British passtime.

There is a proverb that says that the last straw is the one that will break the camels back. There is also the nautical version that a drowning man will clutch at a straw to keep afloat.

Greece will never leave the EU or Euro because they are the proverbial straws. They will by nature of being human never let go of the Euro and the EU's central bank because that is where the money is coming from to keep their country afloat.

To keep the proverbial comparison alive, the Greeks Government (and people) know that if they took up the drachma they would be on their own, up the creek without a paddle, drowning with not even a straw to grab. Excuse all the metaphors but they work in this instance to put the situation in a nutshell ... there, thats another metaphor.

Edit for substance

Greece can continue to suckle at the Euro teat as long as the German populace tolerate it; their tolerance is growing shorter, particularly with the EU economy being as sluggish as it is. The lot of most Greeks can hardly get worse out of the Euro; Iceland defaulted on its debts but it hasn't done it much harm in the long run.

 

[Tony Cross]

Given Ireland was more or less part of the UK at that point, that makes yacht racing a pretty British passtime.

Greece can continue to suckle at the Euro teat as long as the German populace tolerate it; their tolerance is growing shorter, particularly with the EU economy being as sluggish as it is. The lot of most Greeks can hardly get worse out of the Euro; Iceland defaulted on its debts but it hasn't done it much harm in the long run.

But it was France and Germany who wanted Greece in the Euro in the first place in order to build a powerful common currency. The rush to implement the Euro without first putting in place a proper EU-wide financial mechanism to guarantee it's success is as much to blame for the current Euro (and not just Greek) crisis as anything else. The EU has been rushing blindly to "ever closer union" without making sure that the resulting union actually works. So you can hardly pile all the blame on the Greeks when the Euro's "one size fits all" policy comes unstuck. If Germany wants the Euro to survive and thus benefit their exporting industries then Germany will have to pay for it. You can't have your cake and eat it as well.

 

[grumpygit]

But it was France and Germany who wanted Greece in the Euro in the first place in order to build a powerful common currency. The rush to implement the Euro without first putting in place a proper EU-wide financial mechanism to guarantee it's success is as much to blame for the current Euro (and not just Greek) crisis as anything else. The EU has been rushing blindly to "ever closer union" without making sure that the resulting union actually works. So you can hardly pile all the blame on the Greeks when the Euro's "one size fits all" policy comes unstuck. If Germany wants the Euro to survive and thus benefit their exporting industries then Germany will have to pay for it. You can't have your cake and eat it as well.

I'll get this one in before you Tony, from your favourite quote paper, http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_13/12/2013_532196

The current target of the Greek program – i.e. full repayment of debt combined with the creation of budget surpluses – has proved unfeasible. The state is simply overtaxing a frozen economy and society for the sake of servicing its debt and posting a surplus that is mostly for show.

Sort of sums it up.

 

[penfold]

But it was France and Germany who wanted Greece in the Euro in the first place in order to build a powerful common currency. The rush to implement the Euro without first putting in place a proper EU-wide financial mechanism to guarantee it's success is as much to blame for the current Euro (and not just Greek) crisis as anything else. The EU has been rushing blindly to "ever closer union" without making sure that the resulting union actually works. So you can hardly pile all the blame on the Greeks when the Euro's "one size fits all" policy comes unstuck. If Germany wants the Euro to survive and thus benefit their exporting industries then Germany will have to pay for it. You can't have your cake and eat it as well.

Which is fine, as long as the consent of the German populace lasts; once they cry uncle at the perceived injustice of paying the Greek gasbill the wheels are comng off the wagon. Perhaps a NeoDeutschmark is more likely than a NeoDrachma.

 

[Koeketiene]

Which is fine, as long as the consent of the German populace lasts; once they cry uncle at the perceived injustice of paying the Greek gasbill the wheels are comng off the wagon. Perhaps a NeoDeutschmark is more likely than a NeoDrachma.

Rubbish.
Germany and France have no other option than to keep the Greek government from defaulting.
Why? Because the majority of Greek debt is held by German & French banks.
A Greek default would do serious harm to the German & French banking sector.

What's missing from this discussion is a sense of proportion.
We're talking about Greece here (a country with about half the GDP of Belgium FFS) not some economic super power.

 

[tri39]

Exactly, Greece and the euro is supported because French and German banks are terrified of a Greek default even though the Greek GDP is relatively small. A Greek default would also set a precedent for other southern european countries to consider. It's not impossible, if the pain continues, that politicians who promise national economic sovereignty, will be elected to power. It's nearly happened already eg in Italy, imm followed by intense pressure from Brussels and the imposition of technocrats from tiny parties. How long this can continue is uncertain! The euro is essentially a political currency, and all currency unions end eventually.
Thank God Brown/Balls prevented Blair and the eurofanatics taking the UK in!!

 

[Bertramdriver]

Thank God Brown/Balls prevented Blair and the eurofanatics taking the UK in!!

Brown and balls didn't need the euro, they managed to bugger things up all by themselves. Perhaps they were afraid that if Eurocrats examined our books prior to joining the euro the sheer scale of their collective incompetence would have been exposed