Ted Malloch: Greece will ask to leave the eurozone

Ted Malloch, President Trump’s proposed US ambassador to the EU, has been ruffling feathers again, predicting that Greece will ask to leave the eurozone.

Speaking late on Tuesday night on Greek chat show Istories, Malloch said it would have probably been better for Greece if it had initiated the process of exiting the EU four years ago, when doing so would have been “easier and simpler”.

Eight years of punishing austerity had been so bad that it was questionable whether “what comes next” could be worse, he told the show’s chief anchor, Alexis Papahelas, reminding viewers that Trump had tweeted that Greeks were “wasting their time” in the eurozone.

“I think we have to face some facts. The first one is that the harsh austerity programs have been a complete failure. I have traveled to Greece, met lots of Greek people, I have academic friends in Greece, and they say that these austerity plans are really deeply hurting the Greek people and that the situation is simply unsustainable. So you might have to ask the question if what comes next could possibly be worse than what’s happening now.”

Malloch said the eurozone’s future would be determined over the next 18 months.

“Certainly there will be a Europe, whether the eurozone survives, I think it’s very much a question that is on the agenda. We have had the exit of the UK, there are elections in other European countries, so I think it’s something that will be determined over the course of the next year, year-and-a-half.

“I think it is interesting from the perspective of Greece. Why is Greece again on the brink: it seems like a deja vu, will it ever end? I think this time I would have to say that the odds are higher that Greece itself will break out of the euro.”