03-08-2015, 10:45 PM
Strapped for cash and under pressure to deliver on reforms, Greece's new radical government has ruffled feathers in Brussels by not respecting the diplomatic niceties of the negotiating table. From 40-year-old Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras downward, Greek officials have gone into EU meetings in a fighting mood, their hard talk taking many by surprise and leaving some aghast.
Greeks bearing grudges rip up Brussels diplomatic rulebook - Business Insider
Europe's voters head to the polls this year against a backdrop of rising populism, worries about Russia's renewed aggression and dissatisfaction with austerity.
After Greece, these elections will shake up Europe
That seems like a distant memory now. In the final three months of 2014, as elections loomed, output fell by 0.2%. The political turbulence has buffeted the economy and public finances in three main ways. First, anxieties about a possible “Grexit” from the euro and the forced conversion of bank accounts into less valuable drachmas caused a massive drain of deposits (see chart). In December and January Greek households and businesses pulled €17 billion ($19 billion) out of banks; astonishingly, the outflows over these two months were bigger than those in May and June 2012, when two elections were held and fears of a Grexit also loomed large. The withdrawals continued in the first three weeks of February, reportedly at a weekly rate of between €2 billion and €3 billion.