Greek Bankruptcy

Greece was known as a rich country in various civilizations. The Greeks have been doing ocean expeditions to explore the world and had been doing things that were not thought by the people at that time. Cultures and knowledge of Greece also has penetrated into various things in the world for example in the choice of leader. Many Greek scientists such as Plato and Aristotle had thought that had been the root of the ideas which was developed in the future glory when the Greeks defeated the Persians in the 5th century BC. However in 1453, the territory of Greece fell into the hands of the Turks in the Ottoman[1] Empire era Until Greece joined as members of the European Union in 1981.

According to the data from sources, Greece has a population 11 million in 2005 of around (United Nations, 2005). With vast territory covering 131 957 square kilometers, Greece has a per capita income $ 19,670 in 2006 (World Bank, 2006).

In 2001 Greece started to not be able to adjust its monetary policy which is characterized by the emergence of new obligations Greece: first to immediately increase economic growth immediately , because Greece only has a contribution of 2% in the Euro Area, so Greece must increase its exports, facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) and renewed the labor market. Greece must implemented the austerity program that included retiring the employee whose age more than 63 years, cutting the salaries of the employees, termination of employment (FLE), and tax increases.[2]

Indication of the financial crisis could to be seen since 2004. Greece seemed to be lulled by the state merging into the EU. For example in 2004, Greece hosted the 28th Summer Olympics who spent so much euros. One of the causes of the financial crisis in Greece due to the construction of various infrastructures such as subways for the sake of this event, Greece had to debt to various parties and this event started to make a Greek bankruptcy.

Amid the complicated circumstances, emerged a recognition of the Bank Goldman Sachs paid by the Greek government to hide the condition of the Greek economy was very bad which concealment of the actual debt figures and economic data manipulation. Greek debt are large and covered it due to the corruption in government bodies Greek one tax evasion.

The crisis in Greece worsened because political conditions were also a mess because of the conflict between the two parties, named the Socialists and Democrats. Besides the smaller parties that reject the bailout from the EU and IMF began to perform a variety of protest urging Greece to exit the euro zone.

In response to this the Greek government filed a debt to various parties finally get an emergency loan of 14.5 billion euros coming from the EU in 2010[3]. And in 2012 the EU and IMF agreed on bailout for Greece 43.7 billion euros that Greece be able to repay their debts. But of course it must be accompanied by austerity program undertaken by the Greek citizens[4]. But the Greek people rejected it because they assumed that the Greek financial crisis caused by the fault of the government itself did much corruption. In essence, the Greek citizens felt treated unfairly, why the Greek government imposed taxes and cut wages and benefits to workers to only to cover the shortage of money which is stolen by the government. But unfortunately, the Greek government ignored the demonstrations conducted its citizens, the government was still trying to push through a policy and insist bailout for Greece coming from the EU and IMF. In addition to seeking bailouts, the Greek government also made several attempts for example, selling assets. This time theGreek government sell assets such as gas companies who takes shelter in the Group fathoms, as the company, the Greek government has a large enough share of 65 percent, and the remaining 35 percent held by Hellenic Petroleum. Some prospective buyers of Greek assets this tends to Gazprom-owned Russian, French Gas belongs to France, as well as belonging to the Italian Enel[5]. Besides the Greek government is also selling the island of Corfu and the island of Rhodes. The entire tender will be used in order to get the money by 66 billion US dollars.[6]

However, after many efforts made by Greece, at the end of 2015 Greece remains declared bankrupt. It can be concluded from this that to achieve a triumph of a country need good cooperation between the government and its citizens.

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[1] Sejarah Yunani‟, terdapat di: http://www.greekembassy.or.id/pages_in/General/history.html, diakses pada 14

Januari 2016 pkl 21.32 WIB

[2] Rina Dwihana Fitriani, “Rasionalisasi Di Balik Kebijakan Uni Eropa dalam Mengatasi Krisis Finansial di

Yunani Tahun 2010-2012”, (Skripsi, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta,

2013), halaman 41.

[3] ‘UE Cairkan 14,5 Miliar Euro Buat Yunani, terdapat di:

http://bisniskeuangan.kompas.com/read/2010/05/19/09595316/UE.Cairkan.14.5.Miliar.Euro.Buat.Yunani

diakses pada 11 Januari 2016 pkl 08.54 WIB.

[4] ‘Yunani Terima Dana Talangan 44 Miliar Euro’, terdapat di:

http://bisniskeuangan.kompas.com/read/2012/11/28/09244350/Yunani.Terima.Dana.Talangan.44.Miliar.Euro,

[5] ‘Pemerintah Yunani Mulai Jual Aset’, terdapat di:

http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2012/02/29/1910487/Pemerintah.Yunani.Mulai.Jual.Aset, diakses pada 12 januari 2016  pkl 08.55 WIB

[6] Krisis, Yunani Jual Pulau Corfu’, terdapat di:

http://lifestyle.okezone.com/read/2012/03/08/407/589490/krisis-yunani-jual-pulau-corfu,