By Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- There would be no domino effect of the Greek debt crisis, Greek Professor Joseph Hassid, chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Piraeus, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Over the past few weeks, Portugal, Spain and some other southern European countries have been under heavy pressure of international markets and credit rating agencies.
But Athens appeared to be more optimistic due to a financial aid mechanism from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May. The country firmly believed it can reduce its budget deficit from the current 13.7 percent of GDP to less than 3 percent within three years through austerity measures, reforms and international support.
Hassid dismissed worries of international scholars for a spread of the Greek crisis.
"The reason for the latest sequence of events is not the fact that one country fell first, but the common factors existing in all countries," said Hassid.
Hassid also stressed that the EU-IMF support mechanism was not a viable solution itself.
"What Europe can and should do in the future is to convince national governments to take care of their structural problems and review domestic policies. Europeans must learn how to work more productively," said Hassid.
For Greece, the main point to overcome the crisis was put on fiscal measures, he said, warning of a possible vicious circle.
An immediate result of austerity measures, such as tax hikes, cutbacks on salaries and pensions, would reduce economic activities, he explained.
