Contingency plans have been discussed for how to manage with the fallout if Greece were to exit the euro.
Some of the ideas being suggested by European officials include introducing eurozone capital control, limiting the amount of money that can be withdrawn from an ATM machine and putting in place border checks, Reuters reported.
With Greece’s political situation currently in a state of limbo – typified by the inconclusive elections of May 6th – and the uncertainty this brings, the EU has accepted that the worst could happen.
This isn’t to say that this is an inevitable eventuality, the officials are keen to state, which should help to appease uneasy investors who responded positively to the announcement that Spain is to receive a substantial bailout.
Greece’s former prime minister George Papandreou recently told CBS that Greece exiting the euro would be an unmitigated disaster for the country.
“My belief is that the markets see what Greece is going through as a precedent for this European construction,” he said.
“That’s why Greece does have a problem, but Greece is not the problem. Greece is a paradigm, if you like, for what might happen. So if we get our act together as Europeans and solve some of the structural problems of this integration in Europe, that’ll be fine.”