Finance Minister Djankov criticises EU and IMF for failing to cope with the debt crisis

Finance Minister Simeon Djankov harshly criticised the EU finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for failing to cope with the financial crisis. In an interview for the Austrian daily Kurier, Djankov stated that too many mistakes have been made and the year 2010 was crucial, when the IMF and the EU did not set any restrictive terms when allocating the first aid package to Greece. He called the management of the crisis ‘awful’.
“This deepened and prolonged the crisis. In July 2009, I attended for the first time the meeting of finance ministers, where it was stated that we will meet in October. At that time, I was working at the World Bank and I was responsible for the management of the crisis. The EU ministers should have had meetings every week. You cannot afford a leave at a time of crisis. The EU needs much faster solutions. The debt brake was also late,” stated Djankov in the interview.

He also commented that Bulgaria does not approve of financially assisting Greece any more. According to him, the Greek Government is not carrying out enough reforms in order to improve the situation. “Since 2008, Greece has been in a recession, the incomes of the population have fallen by about a third. Europe and the IMF cannot continue to give Greece money and see no improvement,” added Djankov.

The Bulgarian Finance Minister supports the writing off of Greece’s debt at the end of 2012 or in 2013, “This is necessary because Greece will never be able to pay off its debts. If the country’s Government does not undertake structural reforms, it should no longer be financed. This means that Greece should quit the Eurozone. In this way, the Greek economy will be able to recover faster and better,” concluded Djankov.

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