The spectre of "Grexit", a Greek exit from the eurozone, continues to haunt Europe. The Greek authorities say that they have scraped enough money together to meet a payment due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on9 April, along with a similar amount next week when a six-month bond expires. But without more bailout money from Europe and the IMF, it will go broke in May. Its latest reform proposals, designed to unlock the cash, were coolly received.
What the commentators said
This time Greece's list "was at least fuller and more rational", said the Financial Times a mix of the "useful, quixotic, and counterproductive". Privatisation will continue; but tax avoidance plans are projected to raise completely unrealistic amounts of revenue; and the government wants "to backtrack on labour market reforms". To compound matters, the Greek government has "generated such suspicion" among eurozone governments that most think it will renege on its commitments once it has secured financial help.
You can see why, said The Times.Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is visitingRussian President Vladimir Putin this week, a "culpably nave" and provocative step that aligns Greece with a country violating "European standards of justice and constitutionalism". Greece is implying it can get money from Russia, but given the recession there it's hard to see this happening. And Greece would end up "at the mercy of a repressive regime" rather than remain a member of a treaty-bound Western institution.
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It's time for Greece to stop posturing and focus if it wants to keep the euro, said the FT. It won't be long before the Greek banking system runs out of money and the economy grinds to a halt. That may or may not be good for Greece in the long run, said Jeremy Warner in The Sunday Telegraph. But it will certainly leave European monetary union "more weakened, unstable and lacking in credibility than it already is, if that was indeed possible". This affair is looking "ever less likely to have a happy ending".
