Responding to UK Prime Minister David Cameron saying that Greece needs debt relief, Tim Jones, economist from the Jubilee Debt Campaign said:
“The Prime Minister is right to finally admit that Greece needs debt relief. But he is wrong to suggest this is simply a crisis for the Eurozone, rather than all countries whose banks lent recklessly to Greece, which includes Britain. As well as calling for debt cancellation, the government should now support measures to recover the costs of it from the financial institutions, including UK banks, which benefited from the flawed bailout of 2010.”
Responding to UK Chancellor George Osborne saying that the UK wants €1.9 billion of Greek money held by the ECB as a guarantee on any new bailout loans the UK contributes to, Tim Jones continued:
“It is outrageous that the Chancellor is trying to get hold of €1.9 billion of Greek money unjustly held by the ECB. He is behaving with the same narrow sense of self-interest as the other European powers who have prolonged this crisis. If Britain loses money from a third bailout, it will be suffering the financial consequences of the government sitting on the fence in this crisis until now.
“No political solution to Greece’s debt crisis will be possible until politicians have the courage to insist the financial sector which benefited from the 2010 bailout contributes to the costs of the debt cancellation Greece sorely needs. Is there anyone in this continent capable of showing leadership in this crisis?”
More information
- 92% of loans to Greece were used to bailout banks and other financial institutions
- ECB to make between €10 and €22 billion profit out of loans to Greece. Explains why the €1.9 billion George Osborne is targeting should really be returned to the Greek people.