Rutte calls possible Grexit "bizarre"

By Zack Newmark on January 12, 2015 - 14:13
Greece protest
"Money for Education and Health, not for banks, ministries, debt," a sign reads at a Greek austerity protest. Nov. 6, 2014 (photo: Dionysis Kouris/Flickr). ("Money for Education and Health, not for banks, ministries, debt," a sign reads at a Greek austerity protest. Nov. 6, 2014 (photo: Dionysis Kouris/Flickr))

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it would be very strange if Greece chose to exit the eurozone, and dropped their policy measures meant to get the country’s finances in shape. Calling the proposition “bizarre,” he refused to speculate on a possible Grexit, saying only, “I assume that is not going to happen.”

“The Greeks have done so many reforms and budgetary cuts over the last four or five years, and the implementing a backlog of [institutional] repairs, that it would be really bizarre were they to stop now,” he said on television show Buitenhof.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem also declined to speculate on the matter last week.

Rutte pointed to falling unemployment in Greece, and said the economy there is just now becoming attractive to investors.

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