03/04/10 Stockholm, Sweden – The rhetoric is heating up between the Germans and Greeks. In the latest episode, two German politicians told Germany’s bestselling Bild newspaper that Greece should set about selling assets to work down its debt, including publicly-owned uninhabited islands, and national historical treasures like the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
From the Guardian:
“Alongside austerity measures such as cuts to public sector pay and a freeze on state pensions, why not sell a few uninhabited islands or ancient artefacts, asked Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and Frank Schaeffler, a finance policy expert in the Free Democrats.
“The Acropolis and the Parthenon could also fall under the hammer, along with temptingly idyllic Aegean islands still under state ownership, in a rush to keep bankruptcy at bay.
“‘Those in insolvency have to sell everything they have to pay their creditors,” Schlarmann told Bild newspaper. “Greece owns buildings, companies and uninhabited islands, which could all be used for debt redemption.’”
Naturally, the whole matter got Greeks up at arms about the idea of boycotting German products, including the nation’s consumer federation. You can read more about the developments at the Guardian’s coverage of how, according to German MPs, Greece should sell their islands to keep bankruptcy at bay.
Best,
Rocky Vega,
The Daily Reckoning
Rocky Vega
Rocky Vega is publisher of Agora Financial International, where he advances the growth of Agora Financial publishing enterprises outside of the US. Previously, he was publisher of The Daily Reckoning, and founding publisher of both UrbanTurf and RFID Update -- which he ran from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico -- as well as associate publisher of FierceFinance. Rocky has an honors MS from the Stockholm School of Economics and an honors BA from Harvard University, where he served on the board of directors for Let’s Go Publications, Harvard Student Agencies, and The Harvard Advocate.
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