Greeks Seek Exit from Economic and Political Morass

Solving the economic and political crises in Greece seems to be getting more difficult every day. This week, the Athens stock exchange dropped to its lowest level in 22 years. In fact, the value of Greek shares has dropped by almost 90 percent since 2008.

The dire economic news comes on the heels of inconclusive elections on May 6th that raised the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone.

Dimitris Droutsas was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece in 2010-2011 and was part of the Greek government that negotiated bailout terms. He’s now a Member of the European Parliament for the Socialist Party – Pasok. Droutsas says the mood in Europe is shifting away from austerity.

“Finally, we hear in the European Union the necessary voices who say austerity measures are not enough. We have to support those measures by measures that will promote economic growth,” he says.

Droutsas calls for a radical reform of Greek public administration.

“We have to reinvent public administration in Greece,” he says. “Then we will see the austerity measures will show effect and results.”

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman and this is “The World”. Greece can’t catch a break. As the country gears up for new election to try and solve its political economic crisis, here comes more bad news. Today, the Athens stock exchange dropped to its lowest level in twenty-two years. The value of Greek shares has now fallen by almost ninety percent since 2008. The caretaker government in Athens continues to look for ways to prevent Greece from defaulting on the terms of its Euro bailout. Dimitris Droutsas was Foreign Minister in the Greek government that negotiated that bailout and enacted harsh austerity measures. He’s glad to hear European leaders talking more about growth now.

Dimitris Droutsas: Finally we hear in the European Union the necessary voices who say austerity measures are not enough. We have to support those measures by measures that will promote economic growth. In order to achieve economic growth in Greece, we have to radically reform Greek public administration, if you want, we have to reinvent public administration in Greece. Then we will see that also the austerity measures will show effects and results and then we will have economic growth in Greece, which is really achievable.

Weman: A lot of economists, you know, say Greece is handicapped from years of mismanagement. How do you build on a negative number?

Droutsas: If we have the necessary structural reforms in Greece, then we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the past two years we had a huge, very severe austerity program that was imposed on Greece. It is like taking the training program of Usain Bolt, the world record man in the hundred meter sprint, and try to use this for an amateur athlete. What are the odds that the amateur athlete will break the world record? Or that he will be exhausted? This is what happened with Greece. This is the reality. Austerity is necessary and nobody in Greece denies this, but we need another kind of program and more time to implement what is necessary.

Werman: Mr. Droutsas, what is at the root of this crisis in Greece?

Droutsas: Greece was living above its standards with borrowed money. We see, unfortunately, a very high extent of corruption in our public administration in Greece and this is what people are very frustrated about. This was also the anger and this is why in the recent elections that we saw the two former biggest political parties, the Socialist Party and the Conservative Party, they were presented the bill by the voters saying, “We have to change our political system in Greece.”

Werman: I’d like to know you make of the rise of extremist parties in Greece, both on the left and the right.

Droutsas: I really feel very, very bad about the fact that a right radical party, I will say it openly, a neo-Nazi party was able to get into the Greek Parliament. I hope that my fellow Greek citizens will reconsider in the next election the vote and will make this party disappear again from the Greek Parliament. We have to think about the future generations, and here one word is very, very important – unemployment. And especially the high rates of youth unemployment which is a ticking bomb for the whole of Europe and here we need, as responsible politicians, to take sincere and efficient measures to counter that.

Werman: Dimitris Droutsas is a member of the European Parliament for the Socialist Party – Pasok. He’s the former Greek Foreign Minister and joined us from a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Thank you very much, Mr. Droutsas.

Droutsas: I thank you.

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