Greece’s exit from eurozone may be best choice: UK PM
British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended a possible Greek exit from the eurozone, saying the move may be the best option for the cash-strapped country to fix its economy.
Cameron told a fellow EU leader on Friday that Greece might be better off outside the single-currency bloc despite consequent risks, according to a leaked diplomatic document seen by The Guardian.
“On Greece, the PM wondered if it was wise for [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel to allow the discussion with Greece to take place at PM level and mused that it might be better for Greece to leave the eurozone in order to sort its economy out – though also accepted that there were major risks in that too,” the document said.
The UK premier’s remarks come as he has pledged to hold an in-out vote on the country’s membership of the EU by the end of 2017. Earlier this month, British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the European Union Referendum Bill, which will pave the way for the referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
The Greek central bank recently warned that the Mediterranean country could be forced out of the eurozone and the European Union (EU) if it fails to ink a bailout agreement with its international creditors – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission (EC).
Eurozone finance ministers are expected to hold an emergency meeting on the Greek crisis later on Saturday.
Athens has been unable to borrow on international markets over the past years. It has presented a list of reforms needed to restart bailout loan payments, but the creditors have described Greece’s proposals as insufficient and called for tougher austerity measures.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said that people in Greece will vote in a referendum on July 5 on whether their government should agree to the lenders’ demands in return for bailout funds to the debt-ridden country.
In 2010 and 2012, Greece received two bailouts worth a total of €240 billion (USD 272 billion) from the troika of lenders following the 2009 economic crisis.
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