Pop Goes The Weasel
It seems that the cost of hosting the Olympics will push the Greek government's budget deficit over the EU limit for 2004.
Slightly embarrassing, as Greece "busted" the limit last year as well.
The Greek Economics Minister George Alogoskoufis has assured the EU that they will try to stay within the limits in 2005.
I don't think he needs to worry, the EU "Stability Pact" is routinely ignored by other members of the EU; without suffering any more than a mild rebuke from the "Gnomes" in Brussels.
The cost of the Olympics is expected to be around 2.5BN Euros, a staggering 1BN Euros over budget.
By the way, that cost does not include the expense of building the infrastructure (such as new rail links etc); to cope with the influx of people expected to attend the Olympics in Athens.
Let's hope the organisation of the security and logistics is better than the financial management!
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