Following the resignation of Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Malta’s Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said that no Euro Zone country wants to be held responsible for Greece’s exit however inevitably, each member state wants some sort of reassurance before lending more money.
In a telephone call to Bloomberg, Professor Scicluna said that Mr Varoufakis’s resignation does help, because ultimately negations are made by people and having irritated politicians will not help.
“It’s not a question of putting pressure but of how stability will be reached. If the referendum would have been held anywhere else, people would probably still have voted against taxation or expenditure cuts. It does show that people do not know the reality. In any case, whatever is done, it has to be managed, or otherwise it would have a devastating effect on Greece as well as the Euro zone,” he said.
“It is very obvious that no one wants to be held responsible for Greece’s exit from the Euro Zone, but we are sliding to that side, it will eventually become a default. It’s not a question of where you want to go, but what’s on the table. Are we going to ask our own people to lend money to Greece again when there is no certainty that the countries will get it back?” he questioned.
Profs Scicluna said that all member states want to see Greece succeed, however require some form of reassurance before they lend more money.
“The result of the referendum shows that the people are tired, but it’s more complex than that. They should realise that people other EU countries are also victims of poverty. There were many ministers that were ready to help Greece, but they were pushed away by the attitude.”
The Euro group is very irritated but now it’s time to look at things calmly, because this can not only damage Greece but also the entire group, he concluded.