Withdrawal and expulsion from the european union and european monetary union : the greek case

Greece has finished the year 2009 with a surprise that could have been nicer. The Deputy Prime Minister has officially announced a public debt of 273 billion of euro and foresees an increase for 2010 until 294 billion. The country of democracy lives at present an extremely serious case and the fellow Member States are debating about keeping Greece among the EU. Four months ago, the presidents of the ECB and Eurogroup both said it was unrealistic to expel the country from the EMU or any similar body and Greece would lose too much. But what happens in a country impacts on the other Member State of the Union and in this case, Greece creates unnegligible effects on the EU level. After a long silence in the European Treaties, the idea for a Member State of withdrawing from the European Union or the European Monetary Union has been discussed more than ever and leaded to an taking of position in the article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Bringing a controversial situation among European citizens and specialists, people seem anyway to agree on the fact that European institutions haven’t analyzed it in depth enough since it raised several questions. This paper examines the possibility for Greece of any secession or expulsion from the EU or/and EMU by analyzing the different legal aspects, its economical situation and consequences of such an event within Europe.