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		Greek MEPs show "financial illiteracy" Wednesday, 14th January 2009 A spat has opened up in the European parliament in Strasbourg following Tuesday's debate celebrating the tenth birthday of the euro currency. East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer, and others, pointed to the serious imbalances in the euro-zone, which have resulted in a dramatic loss of competitiveness in Italy, depression in the construction industry in Spain, high unemployment fuelling unrest in Greece, and especially an unprecedented spread between government bonds in Greece and Germany. The spread currently stands at over 200 basis points. The Greek MEPs claim that Greece has just successfully raised over €2.5 billion in a new bond issue, at an average interest rate of only 2.51%. They cited this as evidence of the "credibility of Greece's performance as a trustworthy member of the Eurozone". But of course no government in Europe could place bonds at that rate in today's climate. In fact the new borrowing was not government bonds at all, but rather short term-paper and three-month notes (see news link below) In a further broadside, MEP Helmer has fired back a new memo pointing out that the reliance on massive short-term financing is evidence not of Greece's "trustworthiness", but of the very severe difficulties that Greece faces in the bond market. Commenting on the exchange, Helmer said "It is very worrying that these eleven Greek MEPs are pontificating about the eurozone, and about their country's financial position, when they seem to have little understanding at all of the basics of international finance. The eurozone is facing very serious challenges, and influential parliamentarians in Brussels and Strasbourg don't even start to understand the problem".