“Grexit, narrow escape. It would have been a disaster and would have also infected Italy and France”. Word of the economist Nouriel Roubini, interviewed by La Repubblica on the agreement reached in the last few hours between Tsipras and the Greek creditors. According to the US economist, a possible Grexit would therefore have had devastating consequences, worse than those envisaged.
A Greek exit would have meant the end of the Eurozone, because it is not true that the safeguard measures implemented since 2012 would have prevented contagion. And it would have meant - again according to Roubini - very heavy consequences for some countries such as Italy (on which a financial storm would have unleashed without precedents) which would also have extended to France and to Germany itself. “The consequences would have been not only economic, but also geopolitical: Greece would have ended up in the orbit of Russia, in a moment of very strong aggressiveness from Moscow. And in a split Europe, with the Middle East in flames, problems such as the management of immigration would have been accentuated”, argues the economist of Iranian origin.
The former premier is of a different opinion Romano Prodi who in a long editorial in Il Messaggero offers his analysis of the Greek agreement. "As expected, the agreement has arrived - the former prime minister begins - we have avoided the worst, but not the bad, because this is a bad agreement for Greece and a bad signal for Europe". According to Prodi Greece agreed to a 'bad deal', but it was above all Syriza that lost, which after the victory of the referendum had to back down on everything and accept reforms that go against all the promises made to citizens. But faced with a defeat for Syriza and for all of Greece, Prodi underlines, on the other hand, the even heavier defeat for Europe.
“Greece has lost – writes Prodi – but Europe has lost even more. He has lost his soul and mortgaged his future. Above all, the former prime minister criticizes the management of the Greek affair, which was practically left in the hands of German decisions, "the content of the agreement is totally in line with what has always been requested by the German government". And he concludes: "Let's just breathe because for now the euro is safe, but let's realize that if we continue like this, we'll end badly".
