The Greeks are heading back to the polls shortly after Alex Tsipras, the current Prime Minister, called a snap election for the 30th June after the party’s devastating defeat in the European elections.
The election is now likely to be held on July 7th due to clashing with school and university exams. Greece lost a quarter of its economic output during its eight-year depression. Unemployment peaked at 28 percent in 2013 and remains at 19 percent. Economists record it as the worst contraction of any developed economy since World War II. And although a recovery did begin under Syriza, it has been weak. The economy grew by less than two percent in 2018, a performance it is set to repeat this year.
The incumbent party, New Democracy, is throwing out the usual pre-election promises of lowering taxes and re-energising the economy. Unfortunately, this goes hand in hand with re-negotiating with its creditors, the European Union, who are more than likely going to repeat the same message that they gave to Italy. Without fiscal responsibility there will be no allowances. So, is Greece going to be the next pressure cooker moment for Europe again? Only time will tell, but keep your eyes on the Greek elections this summer. That is it for this blog. I will keep you up to speed on any of the latest developments and how they might affect you. 2020 could turn out to be an interesting year for our finances.
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