And what if the UK left the EU ? It could be worse for UK property owners here as we may loose all rights to live here and use health care Property would then take another huge dive

Not likley but certainly not impossible

Just read that the UK is more exposed to Greek debt than previously thought. Only 366 billion

I cant get my calculator to work out how much each individual is owed , not enough noughts

Heh. I wondered why Cameron was talking up the Euro yesterday. In some ways the Greeks have an ace up their sleeves. No-one can contemplate the situation if they default totally and pull out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13861405

Over £14600 each. The UK will need a bail out, who will bail us out

Jeez...Can I have my money back please

Joking aside imagine what you could do in the UK if that ammount was wisley invested.

That is interesting the article re Germany's debt. Maybe that's what the Greek public are aware of hence the Ace up their sleeve, sick of being ordered about and decried by Germany in their press. Lets default and take you all with us or take no more austerity and stay in the euro at your cost! your choice Germany. Who knows my guess is no one, it will sort itself out one way or the other and 50 years from now will be talked about like the great depression but the world will go on because it has to.

My guess no one

366 billion is a doomsday estimate based on a whole pile of dominoes falling. However the true cost should an even deeper recession be caused by the unpredictable consequences of Eurozone break up could be astronomical.

Unfortunately, while it may not break up this week or next, in my opinion it cannot sustain long term as the pressures on the PIGS economies are not politically sustainable. The riots in Greece are only the start.

I started the thread though not really to discuss whether it would happen or not but rather to assume that it would and get people's views of the consequences to expats in Spain, their property values, cost of living, employment prospects etc. One of the articles referenced by a previous poster makes reference to Argentina's success after it unpegged its currency from the US Dollar. Would a return to the Peseta allow Spain to become competitive and grow more rapidly?

Yes but only when we have devalued the pound to 1 euro cent, can't be fairer than that

You're making a common mistake. Spain is actually very competitive. Tourist numbers are up:
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news...le_31005.shtml

Exports are doing very well
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...-the-euro.html


The main problem is that we're experiencing the end of a property bubble. Countries like the US, Ireland and the UK have suffered this too. However Spain has been particularly hit by this. Problem with getting the country to grow more rapidly again, is you build up another bubble. Of course you need growth to get people back to work (and let's hope the drop in unemployment over the last 2 months can continue), but I feel that rather than feeding an artificial growth bubble again, it would be better to make it a lot easier to start up your own business ie reduce autonomo costs; also make it cheaper to start up a limited company.
End of the day though, it's down to the Spanish people to decide what to do.

This is one of those things that should make to currency and its members bond more closer.
Cannot see why they could see the massive contributions a known bankrupt country like Greece would bring to the EU. Did they ever have any contribution or just a net drain??

As we are not part of Euroland but a tax paying member of the EU why is our "contribution" so high ??

What were things like in the US at the time of the North vs South fracas?
They got over it and now have one currency - 50+ states making their own laws but still the one currency.

Is that the future - an EU on the US model, rather than the USSR model??

I agree with what you say but my point was rather more general. Spain may be competitive but it could be even more competitive across a wider range of goods and services and this would promote rapid business growth and a drop in unemployment. However there are also many contraindications from the breakup of the Eurozone ( e.g. many of Spain's potential customers would be in dire straits).

The US had a common language and a broadly common history and culture to help it along. The difference between the German's and say the Greeks or even the French may be getting less but is still substantial.( e.g. in culture, attitude etc.)

Yes there is that but surely main thing is they are all different countries with different industries etc and require different economic measures hence the problems they now have. Germany France big exporters with other southern countries mainly relying on tourism with obviously some industry how can they all have the same economic measures interest rates etc. Main problem seems to be that the euro runs on what's happening at t he heart i.e. Germany hence rate increases etc that hasn't come into the equation thus far but if they continue to put them up strengthening the euro can the PIGs cope