Quote:
Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant
Varoufakis made it clear that for as long as he remained the finance minister, Greece will maintain a budget surplus. The population understand they can't borrow again in the foreseeable future.
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Greece never had a budget surplus in the first place, that's just Varoufakis' creative accounting. What he actually means is that their primary balance is positive. Primary balance is (income - spending) while NOT taking into account any debt interest etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant
The main issue is that with currency union but no fiscal union, things go sour immediately when the hard times come. And that is really what's wrong with the EU; it couldn't survive when tested, and that's really the only thing that matters. Any system of government would work if the economy is good, it is only in bad times do you know if the system is strong enough to survive.
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Let's not act as if the EU is dead already, it is not.
The EU is in principle a good idea and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply wrong. One of the biggest problems is that in times of economical crisis the radical parties are gaining more and more supporters. Their 'solutions' usually shoot against anything that includes long-term planning, helping others, cooperation with other states, and so on. This includes fighting against EU-supportive measures if the country doesn't profit from them.