NEWS

Top British MP calls for Greece to leave euro

A senior British conservative MP has called for Greece to leave the eurozone, claiming that there is no alternative in view of the Greeks’ failure to push through economic reform and the absence of adequate support within the eurozone.

In a paper for the Center for Policy studies published on Wednesday, Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, proposed that a plan for an orderly Greek exit from the eurozone be drafted to avert a «disorderly default» that would be catastrophic.

European governments should take advantage of the «breathing space afforded by the latest bailout to develop a contingency plan for Greece to leave the eurozone,? Mr Tyrie writes. ?To paraphrase Wilde,» he adds, «to be caught out by the collapse of Lehman might be construed as a misfortune. Not to be prepared for a Greek exit would be carelessness.?

The MP, who was formerly chief economist for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also called on the International Monetary Fund, one of Greece’s three foreign creditors, and the Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, to take a more active role. ?Only the IMF has the necessary detachment and economic credibility to help sort out this crisis,» Tyrie writes.

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