The economic crisis plaguing the United States is widespread, affecting prosperous and poor countries alike. Greece has been hit particularly hard by the financial situation, and many, including Greek natives on Boston University’s campus, are now bracing for the consequences if the plight is not remedied soon.
As unemployment rises, Greek government officials have warned that the country could go bankrupt. The European Union has expressed concern as stocks have begun to drop as a result of the situation.
Nationwide strikes and protests have taken place over the last few weeks, as Greek citizens express their anger towards Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government and the pay cuts and tax increases that have affected many.
On March 5, a protest outside of Parliament in Athens turned violent during a legislative session as lawmakers prepared to vote on austerity measures which they had hoped would help to deal with the debt.
On Friday, a week later, all flights out of Athens were grounded when Greece’s two largest unions organized a strike against the government.
Boston University Greek students are feeling the effects of the crisis from a distance, through friends and family back home.
Elias Loizou, who graduated from the School of Management in fall 2009 and decided to stay in Boston for work, is from Athens. He said many friends’ businesses posted losses for the first time this year.
“Uncertainty creates instability and thus there is a liquidity problem in Greece now, because people are afraid to spend,” he said, adding that he sees little respite in sight.
In order to prevent the Greece’s financial ills from infecting the rest of the continent, EU officials have begun initiatives to curb market speculation and are in the process of working out a government bailout plan based in loans for the troubled nation.
Papandreou met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to discuss the financial crisis.
In a press conference following his meeting, Papandreou said, “We’re not asking for a bailout, we’re not asking for financial help from anyone. What we are doing is, first of all, revamping our own economy. We are taking measures to put our economy on the right path.”
Some students, like Greek international student Vasileios Valsamis, said they believe that EU intervention may be the only way Greece will endure unscathed.
“I think that basically unless the EU makes a move, nothing good will come out of the situation,” Valsamis, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said. “There is definitely a need for someone to help out.”
Loizou agreed.
“I cannot really see how Greece can pull itself out of this situation without money from the EU,” he said. “Even scenarios with the most radical cuts in place cannot predict an acceptable budget deficit for Greece, and Greeks usually protest radical cuts.”
Kelly Polychroniou, a professor of German and Greek in the Modern Languages and Comparative Literature Department, said that in Greece, “debt was growing steadily over the last 30 years until it reached the crisis of today.”
Loizou said the cause of the crisis lies in the system itself, particularly with politicians who win voters’ favor by making promises they cannot fund and then throw the budget off balance by funding these promises.
“And that is not the worst,” he said. “The worst is that corrupt politicians altered the statistics that indicated the direction in which Greece was heading into, and now the crisis seems as if it came out of nowhere.”
Polychroniou, on the other hand, remained optimistic.
“Something good will come out of this crisis,” she said. “Better people, better economy, better ethos.”
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