Greece and Germany Draw Political Battle Lines

Video Transcript

Mark Fleming-Williams: Hello, my name is Mark Fleming-Williams, and today I’m joined by Adriano Bosoni via Skype from Germany. And we’re going to be talking about the ongoing Greek crisis. Since winning the Greek elections on January the 25th, the Greek finance minister and prime minister have been undergoing something of a charm offensive, touring Europe and taking in various European capitals. Adriano, the most recent meeting took place in Berlin between the German and the Greek finance ministers, and it’s probably safe to say it was a tense affair.

 Adriano Bosoni: Yeah, it was a tense meeting because it was the meeting between not only the finance ministers of two nations but between two men with very different views, not only about the future of Greek debt but also about the future of Europe. On one side, we have a government that wants to secure fast economic growth, more public spending, even if it means breaking the European Union’s ceilings and limits, and even if it means breaking some contracts, most notably debts. And on the other side, we have a government that wants to protect the euro, wants to protect the sanctity of debts, wants to protect the institutional and financial framework of the European Union, and wants to keep wages low, wants to make sure that countries do not overspend. So these are two very, very different views that were bound to clash in Europe, and we see now that the clash has taken the shape of this confrontation between the Germans and the Greeks. But in addition to this ideological and political debate, the Greeks have more immediate concerns because they’re worried about the health of their financial sector.