Greece Is The Word

Greek gyros, Greek history, Greek tourism, and now Greek debt.

European Union policy makers have no “plan B” to help Greece, the bloc’s top economic official said, and Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said he’s not aware of talks of a possible rescue.

“There is no bailout problem,” Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “Greece will not default. In the euro area, default does not exist.”

Greek bonds have slumped on speculation the country will need help from the EU to cut the region’s highest budget deficit and tame its rising debt. Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday said Greece is being victimized by rumors in financial markets and he denied seeking to borrow from European partners.

Papaconstantinou, in an interview today, said he has no knowledge of any EU bailout talks and promised deeper budget cuts if needed. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told reporters in Davos that Greece, while “not alone” in the euro area, must deliver on its budget-cut pledges.

Almunia dismissed as “sensationalist” newspaper reports that the euro region was discussing options to bail out Greece. Officials in Berlin and Paris yesterday rejected reports that bailout talks were under way. 

Everything is fine with Greece, why do you ask?  We're not bailing anybody out. Things aren't falling apart in southern Europe economically!  Everything's great!

Greek unions representing civil servants plan a strike for Feb. 10 to protest austerity measures in the plan, which includes a state-hiring freeze this year and a wage cap for public workers earning more than 2,000 euros a month. The plan calls for a 10 percent cut in benefits for state employees and in operating expenditures at all ministries.

Greek tax collectors, who are key to the government’s plan to raise revenue though a crackdown on evasion, plan to approve four strikes at a meeting next week, union head Yannis Grivas said. 

What could possibly go wrong?