Jens Bastian – Who’s calling for a Greek bailout?
The events of the past weeks have shown us that the loudest advocates of “rescue” packages for Greece are analysts and economists from the financial sector. Although they usually prefer singing from the hymn sheet of free market liberalism, they are now reciting the lyrics of “supporting” and “rescuing” Greece.
Their sudden clarion calls come in different colors and notes. They are praising European Union intervention, recommending German bilateral assistance or campaigning for International Monetary Fund-financed bailouts of Greece.
Whatever the specifics of their interventions may look like, they are a mirror image of these advocates’ special interests and one-sided view of financial affairs.
What these clarion calls by financial sector representatives are definitely not are expressions of mutual solidarity with Athens.
The immediate losers from a sovereign default of Greece would be commercial banks, hedge funds and mutual funds across Europe. These financial institutions hold large volumes of government bonds from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy on their balance sheets. In particular, French, Swiss and German financial institutions are most concerned about a default scenario in Athens and therefore rather vocal when favoring external bailouts.
