Conditional Aid Offer Extended to Greece

Germany and France have agreed to help Greece out of its financial crisis. A conditional offer to acquire 20-30 billion euro of debt has been extended; half of this debt will go to France and Germany and the other half to private market debt investors.

Greece's debt deficit is 12.7%, which is four times the limit of debt for European Union countries. In order to accept the aid, Greece must agree to lower their deficit by at least four percent by cutting public spending. This condition will require the country to cut spending by 64 billion euro. There have already been civil servant strikes in Athens over these spending cuts, and the protests are continuing. Civilians are not taking the wage freezes, tax increases or bonus cuts very lightly.

EU countries whose debt deficit increases over the 3% limit are supposed to be kicked out of the European Union. But decisions like these can have severe consequences for international relations, so it is better for fellow EU countries to lend a hand.