Friday Evening in Greece

Greece heating up this Friday evening. From Ekathimerini.

“It goes without saying that whoever disagrees and does not vote for the new program cannot stay in the government,” he said.

Papademos also made it clear that declaring bankruptcy was not an option for Greece. He argued that those who thought it might be better for Greece to default on its debts were “seriously misguided” or guilty of “demagoguery”.

“We cannot allow the country to go bankrupt,” he said. Papademos said that a default would «create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and a social explosion.»

“The state would be unable to pay wages and pensions and cover basic operational costs such as those of hospitals and schools.» It would make imports of basic goods such as medicines and fuel problematic and that businesses would close down en masse, he added. «The living standard of Greeks would collapse and the country would be dragged into a spiral of recession, instability, umemployment and misery,» he said. «All these developments would lead, sooner or later, to Greece’s exit from the eurozone.” (Full reading here)