Greece Tackles "Perpetual Austerity" Disaster

US President Barack Obama warned that perpetual austerity in Greece may well backfire against creditors’ interests.

“You cannot keep on squeezing countries that are in the midst of depression,” Obama told CNN.

“At some point, there has to be a growth strategy in order for them to pay off their debts to eliminate some of their deficits,” he added.

Last week, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney sharply criticized austerity policies common to the Eurozone states, warning that the single-currency area was constrained by strangulating levels of debt that could plunge it into years of stagnation.

Following Carney’s comments, UK economist and anti-austerity campaigner Michael Burke argued that debt burdens of struggling EU states such as Greece and Ireland are unsustainable, and must be largely written off if real growth is to occur in these states.

Central to Yanis Varoufakis, the Finance Minister of Greece, pre-electoral mandate is a pledge to address the human price of Greek austerity, a vow to cancel or reduce the nation’s bailout burden, and a pledge to tackle the country’s oligarchic elites.

As part of a brief tour across Europe following Syriza’s election victory, Varoufakis also met with a series of City of London bankers Monday.

He is set to travel to Rome next, where he will speak with Italy’s finance minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Syriza is seeking to renegotiate Greece's rescue package in a manner that will link Greek debt repayments to tangible economic growth.

The party's plans have been met with resistance from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who warned on Monday that Germany would not accept “one-sided” adaptations of the bailout program.

Commenting on Greece’s path forward, Italian PM Renzi said a“great deal of seriousness, caution and responsibility” was needed.

He warned that the Eurozone’s debate compass had to shift away from austerity and toward growth.

“We want to change economic policy in Europe, not just for Greece or for another country. We want to shift the debate on economic policy away from austerity and rigor toward growth and investment.”