Greece is being forced out of eurozone, Venizelos claims

[CHIMO]

Greece rounded bitterly on its EU paymasters today when the finance minister and socialist leader, Evangelos Venizelos, accused the eurozone of deliberately changing the terms of a proposed €130bn (£110bn) bailout because key players wanted to kick the country out of the single currency.

The charge that some eurozone countries were seeking to engineer a Greek sovereign default and exit from the euro deepened the worsening rancour between debtor and creditors in the dangerous standoff.

"There are many in the eurozone who don't want us any more," Venizelos declared at a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias. "We are constantly being given new terms and conditions."

The complaint came as Greece's political leaders sought to assuage Berlin and Brussels by delivering on a key condition for release of the €130bn bailout, the second in two years, which takes Greece's rescue fund to €240bn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/15/greece-forced-out-eurozone-venizelos

[Warpy]

1. My guess is that the extreme austerity at the bottom

while the rich are still allowed to skate on paying their taxes will result in getting the present government ousted. A new government will likely be elected on the promise that they will leave the Eurozone completely in order to get their financial house in order without interference from Berlin and Brussels.

My prediction all along is that the Eurozone would have to get smaller, losing Greece, Portugal and possibly Ireland and perhaps even more. They will fight to keep the large economies of Italy and Spain within the Eurozone.

We're going to be living in fascinating times.

[CHIMO]

2. Well

Bringing geography into the picture may also add a bit to the picture.

[bemildred]

3. The banks want their insurance payouts. nt