Ahead of a meeting with US President Barack Obama yesterday, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was saying that his country’s financial woes were a problem the US cannot afford to ignore.
Papandreou also said he is not looking for a handout from Washington.
Instead, Greek officials say they want to see the US impose stricter regulations on hedge funds and currency traders that Athens believes aggravated their crisis.
In his meetings this week with Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Papandreou also is seeking to outline for the US administration the steps that Greece was taking to stem its financial bleeding and reform its economy.
Papandreou’s trip to Washington along with his finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, came as Greece tries to climb out of a steep economic hole that widened after Papandreou’s Socialist party came to power in October and revealed that its budget deficit was far worse than the previous government had disclosed.
The trip is part of a four-nation tour aimed at boosting Greece’s financial credibility and winning support for more favorable interest rates for loans. Papandreou says the solution lies with support from EU countries. He was in the US as the Obama administration and the US Congress are considering major changes in the US financial system designed to prevent future activities such as those that caused a major recession in Obama’s first year in office.
Papaconstantinou said he and his prime minister also were trying to illustrate for the US administration how hedge funds have made the crisis worse by betting on Greece defaulting on its loans, then seeking to make that result more likely.
On Monday, Papandreou compared currency speculators to arsonists.
“It is common sense, enforced by insurance regulators, that a person is not allowed to buy fire insurance on his neighbor’s house and then burn it down to collect on that insurance,” Papandreou said, comparing arsonists to speculators. “If Europe and America jointly step in to shore up global financial regulation, and to finally ensure enforcement of regulations, we can curtail such activities.”
Papaconstantinou warned that leading economic powers have not yet implemented the changes needed to avoid another financial crisis.
“The real question that we should be asking ourselves on both sides of the ocean is, ‘Have we learned the lessons of that financial crisis?’” he said. “I think the honest answer is that despite some political will to do so, we haven’t actually taken all the necessary measures.”
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