Is Greece Europe's trojan horse?

The renowned Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis says that the Euro crisis is not a Greek crisis. Europe’s leaders lack vision and are throwing good money after bad, hoping the problem will go away.
The Euro is in crisis. Europe’s politicians and central bankers are in confusion. And European electorates balk at more bailouts and more centralization. Is the Euro finished? Should the ‘PIIGS’ (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) never have joined the Eurozone? Will Greece go bankrupt? Who will follow? And do we need a United States of Europe to solve the crisis?
The Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis says we are right to be angry. This crisis is not a Greek crisis - it was built into the Euro system from the start. And now Europe’s loans to Greece only increase its debt burden while loan conditions shrink its economy. Europe’s leaders lack vision and are throwing good money after bad, hoping the problem will go away. Instead Europe should issue debt at low cost and so refinance its member states and recapitalize its banks.
Is he right? In this meeting chaired by Dirk Bezemer Varoufakis will make his case. University of Groningen associate professor of economics Michael Koetter responds.

Yanis Varoufakis is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens. Before returning to Greece in 2000, he taught economics at several universities in Great Britain and Australia. Varoufakis is an expert of the Greek economy and political landscape. He is internationally renowned for his critical commentaries on the financial crisis of 2008 and the current Euro crisis. This year he published two books: ‘The Global Minotaur: The true causes and nature of the current economic crisis’ and ‘Modern Political Economics: Making sense of the post-2008 world’.

Michael Koetter is associate professor at the department of Global Economics and Management at the University of Groningen.  He works with central banks in research on bank regulation and on understanding  the  causes of banks’ productivity and stability.

Dirk Bezemer is associate professor at the department of Global Economics and Management at the University of Groningen. He has published about development and the role of finance in the economy’s growth and crises.

This lecture is organized by the Department of Global Economics and Management of the University of Groningen and Studium Generale Groningen, in co-operation with EBF en RISK.

Interesting links

About Yanis Varoufakis
Nieuwsuur: Varoufakis comments on the Euro Crisis on Dutch TV
Press TV: Max Keiser on the Edge with Yanis Varoufakis
 

Organized in co-operation with the Department of Global Economics and Management, EBF and RISK