Greek crisis: Your five biggest questions about Grexit answered
On Sunday, the Greek people gave a resounding “no” to further austerity. But what does that mean? What’s going to happen next?
We’ve all got a lot of questions about the turmoil in Greece. We’ve answered your top ones here.
Read more: The 12 Twitter accounts you need to follow to make sense of this mess
Google search data reveals the five top searches worldwide about Greece in the past 24 hours:
Will Greece leave the Eurozone?
Grexit or not? By now banks are seeing it as the more likely option, but it still all depends on whether Eurozone leaders agree to a new deal or turn away.
Alexis Tsipras has brought a new proposal to the European leaders’ emergency summit today, and although attitudes towards Greece has been hardening, both Greek and EU leaders have said they want to keep the country in the Eurozone.
But a speedy deal is necessary. Greek banks have been shut since 29 June, and if negotiations go bust and ECB don’t unfreeze their monetary lifeline, Greece will soon have a solvency crisis, in which case it will probably need a new currency.
What will happen to the euro if Greece leaves the Eurozone?
The current uncertainty means the euro is likely to keep falling. At worst, a Grexit could lead to another Eurozone recession.
The biggest worry, however, is the contagion risk. Investors fear that other countries who’ve been bailed out may soon follow in Greece’s footsteps out of the Eurozone, notably Spain and Italy.
What is the Eurozone?
This is the group of 19 of the EU’s 28 member countries which use the euro, so it’s not to be confused with Europe as a whole.
Why does Greece want to exit the Eurozone?
Well… That’s not really what the referendum was about. The Greek public voted against the terms of the Eurozone’s cash-for-reforms proposal, so what Greece wants is for their lenders to agree to debt relief. Leaders are saying that they want to remain in the Eurozone.
Is Greece out of the Eurozone?
Nope. At least, not as of 7 July.