British Business Group Macedonia

Am I missing something here? At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Mr Sarkozy and Mrs Merkel were united in their defence of the euro, calling it a fundamental part of the EU architecture. “The euro is Europe” announced the French President. Clearly, there is political determination at the centre of Euroland to hold the line. Retreat, even if tactical, seems to be out of the question. But the actions of these governments so far don’t seem to offer any long-term solutions. On the contrary.

A temporary patch
When the problem became a crisis, the EU reacted commendably fast to keep the Greek and Irish governments afloat. A large stability fund has been established in co-ordination with the IMF, and both countries have received loans to help them out of their “temporary difficulties”. But their economic position, and that of the other weaker Euroland economies, remains unchanged.

The liquidity provided directly through the stability fund and indirectly to the banks by the European Central Bank allows the Greek and Irish governments to pay the bills for the time being, but it does not improve their economic position. Their balance sheets are the same. The problem is that the over-indebtedness of these economies is so great that it cannot be resolved simply through cutbacks in public expenditure, which can only have an effect in the future. Basically there are two awkward dilemmas that cannot be avoided, however hard politicians try to do so.

Welcome to the BBGM blog where you will be able to find various posts on topical matters, thoughts and activities connected to the BBGM...or quite possibly anything that we think is worth sharing. If you are a regular visitor you will have noticed quite a few changes to the site, not least the all new look, but in the detail there is also a new type of membership now available by popular demand for Young Professionals.  This will allow professional, career focused individuals or entrepreneurs looking to get ahead in life to enter into an exciting world of business networking. For our more seasoned members this pool of talent will be a welcome addition to events to inspire discussion and enthusiasm and even make networking sessions a likely place to find the next superstar managers!