Sebastian Kurz Quotes

One needs a comprehensive concept that decides just how much debt states like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy can sustainably bear.

I described the euro as a burning building with no exits and so it has proved for some of the countries in it.

At this time - we're in a dramatic crisis - euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer. They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt.

From my point of view it's impossible to cut debt in a country with new debt from another country.

For the next three years, we're going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default.

The savings rate in Italy is high, but the markets do not trust Italy even though it's the third largest economy in the European Union and the eighth in the world.

The Greek debt issue, for example, is such a threat because if that country ever defaulted, it might cause some bank that's 'too big to fail' to actually fail.

As austerity measures were foisted upon Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and other highly indebted countries, growth was rendered even more elusive, aggravating unemployment

The Greeks do not have the option of borrowing because nobody will lend to them.

Everybody’s kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier…

I think it's often discussed that leaving the Euro is an option for Greece. I think this is really not an option.

I think the facts reveal that the European partners have taken extraordinary measures to help Greece address its problems.

So it won't be a surprise when the Greek default actually happens and we expect it one way or the other to be relatively soon.

I see nothing that points to a recession in Germany. But I see considerable long-term tasks ahead of us that have to do with markets regaining confidence in Europe and that have a lot to do with reducing debt.

It's a European Union of economic failure, of mass unemployment and of low growth.

Greece is an extreme case: a country where both the level of spending and the level of taxation were unsustainable!

What you have in legacy countries is long-term insolvency.

There is a difference between strategic or technical default and default where you really don't have the economy to support the spending. We are not at that point yet. We could be. We could be, like some European nations.

In this age, if the currency of a major nation collapses, or its access to borrowing ends, it just can't function.

If Spain goes under, Italy will come under even more scrutiny.

The world has conducted a massive macro-economic experiment since the cataclysm of 2008. In Europe, the fans of austerity have had their chance, and the results have been a disaster.

Europe is on an economic collision course with reality.

I believe Europe is burning financially. Europe's problems are not going to go away. They are so structural. Yet, our problems are right behind them. We cannot just look at Europe.

The interest on our debt is going to collapse this country.

Since taking office in 2008, the Barrow Administration failed to stimulate the necessary economic growth. Instead they have, over the more than four years, continued on a path of borrow and spend, accumulating huge additional debts.