THE BENEFITS ??? - EU should leave us alone !!!!

Greece has endured deep budget cuts tied to its massive bailout from the so-called troika - the EU, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB).
The possibility of a Syriza victory in Sunday's vote has sparked fears that Greece could default on its debt and exit from the euro.
THE BENEFITS OF E.U. AND THE EURO

Average wage is €600 (£450: $690) a month

Unemployment is at 25%, with youth unemployment almost 50%

Economy has shrunk by 25% since the start of the eurozone crisis

Country's debt is 175% of GDP

Borrowed €240bn (£188bn) from the EU, the ECB and the IMF

 

After more than four years of harsh restrictions imposed by the so-called "troika" of the EU, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, elections here come just as Greece actually begins to see small signs of recovery. But it is macroeconomic growth that has yet to reach the pockets of ordinary Greeks, who have seen their companies shuttered and their pensions slashed... if Europe is forced to respond to new demands from Greece, it will test cohesion already strained by tensions over NATO and Britain's flirtation with an exit from the EU, says Ian Kearns, director of the policy group European Leadership Network in London. “In that reaction we will see the definition of the European project,” Mr. Kearns says. “It will be the movement of Europe into a new era, one that will lock in austerity or [take] a new path.”   It could also challenge a Greece that has in some ways felt on the mend.  Antonis Birbilis, a volunteer at the electoral stand for New Democracy in Syntagma Square, which was the site of near daily violent protests against austerity, says he fears the election could bring Greece back to darker days.