Solution must be found to avoid more Greek tragedy

THE LEADERS of the world’s richest countries — the G8 — have confirmed in a communique that they want Greece to stay within the eurozone. During a Stateside summit, the most powerful people in the world sat around the table to discuss the growing crisis consuming the continent and the potentially disastrous effects of Greece finding the euro exit door.

Even without such a nightmare scenario, evidence of the potential f inancial contagion effect within the region was clear last week after credit ratings agency Moody’s moved to downgrade 16 Spanish banks — including the giant lender Santander.

Although not in quite the same state as its Mediterranean counterpart for now at least, Spain is struggling to cope under the weight of huge debts, mass unemployment and a stalling economy.

The construction sector is on its knees — there are thousands of partially built apartments lining the Costas which have no prospect of completion — and tens of thousands of young people are facing a life of worklessness as jobs become rarer than hens teeth.

More worryingly perhaps for the long-term health of the eurozone is there appears to be little of significance coming out of the region’s central legislatures that is capable of tackling the root causes of the crisis.

All eyes are on France and Germany to provide the answers to an economic morass stretching from the Baltics to Britain.

At the G8 summit in Washington, President Barack Obama urged the eurozone countries to concentrate their collective efforts on creating jobs and boosting trade growth.

The medicine may seem overly simple but similar growth measures have started to pay dividends in the US, where the economy has begun to pick up.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EC president Herman Van Rompuy said the key to a brighter future was two-fold — measures to kick-start growth within the eurozone economies (quite what these are remain unclear) combined with further efforts to restore public finances.

That is a knife-edge balance where any slip-up could break the banks and push depressed eurozone economies into uncharted territories.

No economy would be immune to the effects of a eurozone crash and the backlash to hit the UK would be massive given the scale of its trading links with Europe and its financial exposure in the continent.

The fact we have pounds in our wallets instead of euros may be advantageous in the short to medium term but the UK cannot afford to be complacent in the face of a gathering economic storm.

We must have our own house in order first and foremost and hope the most powerful people on the planet can engineer a solution that will avoid a Greek default and wider economic carnage.

Fingers crossed.

AS THE eurozone continued its struggles, there were billions being made across the Atlantic as social media giant Facebook went public.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg rang the symbolic Nasdaq opening bell and, despite an embarrassing technical glitch with the exchange, hours later saw his personal worth shoot through the roof to astronomic levels.

A raft of other major stakeholders including savvy graffiti artist David Choe — who opted for stock rather than cash when painting a mural at Facebook’s first HQ — and U2 frontman Bono also became instant millionaires.

Facebook has more than 900 million users and now has a market value of more than $100bn, making it one of America’s largest companies.

However, the flotation has raised concerns of another tech bubble in the same vein as the dot.com boom and bust of a decade ago.

Despite its prominence, questions still remain over Facebook’s ability to make profits commensurate with the size of its massive global audience.

In its short lifespan, the internet has proven a very fickle mistress with the ‘next big thing’ often becoming passe within a matter of months.

Facebook is still less than a decade old and has done extraordinarily well to maintain its lead over rivals but challenges will continue to come at it from all directions in the years ahead.

It remains to be seen whether Facebook has the staying power to remain at the top of its game and turn short-term popularity into long-term commercial success.

Graham huband