Rational Irrationality: Beware of Greeks Bearing Referendums. On Monday night, the nation’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, shocked his colleagues, his countrymen, and the rest of the world by announcing he would hold a referendum on a new bailout package, which other European countries agreed upon last week as part of a broader effort to contain the continent’s debt crisis.
Today, markets everywhere are plunging, which is hardly surprising. Just when it seemed like there was going to be a respite from the debt crisis, albeit perhaps a temporary one, Papandreou has thrown the whole thing into question again. If the Greeks were to vote down the European rescue package, which involves yet another round of austerity measures, they would be opting for a sovereign debt default, and, in all probability, Greece’s exit from the euro zone. Even if the Greeks approve the package, the markets face two months of chronic uncertainty before a vote not expected until January. As of today, though, it looks like the Prime Minister was being too clever by half. The Origins of the Greek Financial Crisis. Before the modern Greek state assumed its present day contours in the aftermath of the first world war, communities in the trading cities of Alexandria, Odessa, Salonika, Smyrna, and Trieste, already had a long history of running their own school systems, hospitals, and orphanages.
This was partly a legacy of Ottoman rule. With the exception of political stability, the Ottomans were not in the habit of providing public goods so, when it came to public health and economic development, citizens had to fend for themselves. That system worked. European Union website, the official EU website. European Law database. Europe specialized news agencies. Project Europe.