Greece

Lord Higgins Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, the settlement of the issue is primarily for the eurozone and Greece. However, we note that yesterday there were intense discussions among eurogroup Finance Ministers. According to the chairman, the Dutch Finance Minister, Mr Dijsselbloem, they progressed with intense discussions which covered a lot of ground. We remain hopeful of a positive outcome.

[Lord Higgins (Con)]

My Lords, has my noble friend seen the remarks of the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in America, Mr Alan Greenspan, in which he points out that any bailout proposals or any other changes for rescue and so on are not likely to provide a long-term solution to the Greek problems so long as they are based on an exchange rate in the eurozone? Is it not inconceivable that Greece will become competitive at the present exchange rate, and that therefore the best negotiations that could take place would be on an orderly withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, the Government’s view is that:

“If Greece left the euro that would create real instability”.

That statement was made by the Chancellor, who went on to say that, frankly, a Greek exit would cause ructions. We obviously take seriously anything that Alan Greenspan says but we remain hopeful that there can be a settlement, because it would be bad news for the United Kingdom and certainly bad news for Europe if no agreement could be reached within the eurozone.