At the conclusion of the European Council session in March
2015, all 19 of the state governors in attendance still wanted the state of
Greece to remain with the euro. As for whether Greece should continue its
austerity program and reform its economy as per the ongoing agreement on
continued bailout funds, the tally was 18 to 1. Although both federal and state
officials in the E.U. overwhelming believed that the austerity program had been
behind the growth in the Greek economy in 2014, the Greek finance minister and
most Keynesian economists disagreed, pointing to the fact that the state had
lost a quarter of its GDP under the austerity. Besides this honest difference
of opinion on the effectiveness of the strategy, conflicts-of-interest
compromise the “club of 18” and thus its position.
The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.
