The EU decided to gather in order to discuss the Greece problem. As the previous post, “Germany’s Choice” stated, Greece is the most damaged economy on the Continent, and threatens to destroy the Euro’s reputation as a stable currency. The EU has several options available to it to prevent or isolate the damage Greece is causing.

EU’s first option, and it looks to point in some fashion, is the establishment of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) clone. This option is viable and possibly desirable as the EU had deliberately removed the IMF from the Brussels summit. The problem with this course the establishment of the European Central Bank. The ECB is already the printer of the Euro, and establishes the monetary policies for currency stability. Adding an additional “bank” to offset future economic issues in member states, only drives the stability issue in chaos. Two banks, one currency equates to competing monetary policies in the Euro Zone.

The second option is to have a stronger country, with the long-term resources, to bailout Greece. The only viable country in a position to do such an act is Germany. Relying on a single country also has issues. First, although the EU members work for a united Europe, each member has their own market, economy and policy, separate from the EU. The issue here is the reliance of one country to carry others in the future. Most citizens of a nation will grow tired and frustrated if their country is seen as the single protector of other economies.

The final option is to remove Greece from the EU altogether. This actually is a better option than the first three. Since the EU charter requires nations to have solid monetary and economic policies for current and future issues, Greece should not even have gained admission. Although today, Greece is looking to raise the tax rate of the rich, while cutting government spending, the issue comes from Greece’s track record in the collection and fiscal governance of their taxes. Greece has a poorer record in fiscal responsibility, compared to the PIGS countries. PIGS here stands for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. Ireland is usually attached to the PIGS acronym, but not in this matter, as the Irish have better control, and adapt faster to economic crisis.

Detaching Greece from the EU would allow the Euro to have better stability. Unfortunately, doing so would harm the reputation the EU strives to create. That is, a stable, unified Europe.

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