Greek crisis and Georgia

The ongoing problems in Greece are significantly impacting the EU, as it might lose its image following the crisis.

The crisis will also affect the many Georgians living and working in Greece; families in Georgia country are dependent on the remittances sent from Greece.

The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, will address European leaders with a new proposal at a special Eurozone summit. As the BBC reports, Athens plans to ask for a 30% debt reduction. Germany’s government, however, claims that such a reduction would create a serious threat to the Euro.

At the same time, French and Greek leaders say doors for negotiations with the Greek government still remain open.

The new Finance Minister of Greece will also take part in the Eurozone summit.

Greece faces a default threat at the moment due to having 331 billion USD in debt to international creditors. Greek banks will remain closed until Thursday.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili says that the current situation in Greece is stressful for all and addressed all of the involved sides to do everything possible to settle the problem peacefully and timely.

According to Minister of Economics Giorgi Kvirikashvili, remittances from Greece resumed from 40 million Euros to 15 million. The Vice Prime Minister assessed that the Greek crisis will not affect Georgia in a short period of time.

However, it is obvious that if the crisis will continue there will be no benefit for anyone; on a local level, it would be a serious blow for Georgians as they might lose jobs there.

Georgia still fails to offer jobs to its people and the return of the people to Georgia now might cause significant financial hardship for the families.