Pod Academy

In the next couple of weeks, Greece will elect a new government and according to the polls, the emerging Syriza party could form that government.  They are calling for an end to austerity measures and their Marxist Communist roots are causing quite a bit of concern in the wider Europe.  Greece, austerity and the European Monetary Union are a heady mix! But regardless of who wins this election, Greece faces substantial problems. Among them, a huge, and growing, public debt. Craig Barfoot spoke to Greek economist Dr Yiannis Kitromilides, an Associate Member of the Cambridge Centre for Economic and Public Policy, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, about the current situation and the position of Greece within the European Monetary Union (EMU). He started by asking Dr Kitromilides  to comment on the repeated narrative that high public spending and widespread tax evasion, combined with the credit crunch, were the causes of Greece’s problems. Yiannis Kitromilides:  This narrative is correct.  T