Venizelos: Do not use Greece as an alibi

 

"The Eurozone cannot use Greece as a pretext to justify its failure to deal effectively, in a definitive and insightful manner, with the various manifestations of the crisis on the Eurozone as a whole and certainly in the vast majority of its members.

 

Greece has fully completed its task, making very difficult decisions for the umpteenth time.

 

The debt sustainability problem, which is strictly connected to the question of the extension, did not appear just now. It was dealt with last February as a result of long and difficult negotiations, and everybody knew what further actions were required. Neither is the disagreement between the Eurozone and the IMF anything new.

 

Therefore, there should have been a decision yesterday also to help the Thursday summit on the budget and the multiannual financial framework.

 

The coming days - as soon as possible - must see the finalization of the sustainability scheme, not only because Greece needs and deserves a new starting point, but also because the Eurozone itself urgently needs a framework of self protection and perspective.