(Products brought into special zones devoted to manufacturing for markets abroad avoid the tax altogether).As a result of pressure from China's trading partners, these tax rebates on exports had been contracting.
Economists argue overwhelmingly that Germany would draw no benefit from a collapse of the euro zone, eroding markets for its Mercedes and BMWs and machine-tools, and jeopardizing investments of around a trillion dollars in southern Europe.
Fears continue to grow that it will be difficult to avoid a messy divorce between Greece and the euro zone, with still unpredictable consequences for markets and other struggling European economies, including Spain and Italy.
The festival also includes a Greek grocery, a kid's zone for activities and an agora (market place) with several shops offering artwork, jewelry, crafts and icons.
And the German government eventually decided to back Mr Samaras and not to impose a Grexit, as it had once contemplated, for fear of the systemic consequences for the euro zone; markets feared that where Greece might lead, others might follow.On this occasion, both countries once again have reasons to avoid a Grexit, but the balance of bargaining power has shifted away from Greece to Germany.
He wanted to use very basic, unglamorous visual and linguistic tools to clear a zone for thinking, without interference from the market or pressure to be predictable.
"The wider the potential audience, the more difficult it is to find the comfort zone for how we're going to market it," he says.
For one thing, the European Central Bank's pledge to buy bonds has, according to Mr. Spiro, been a "game-changing event, the most important development in euro zone bond markets since the euro zone crisis".
The fledgling market is inside the security zone for the convention, which might be the best or the worst thing that could have happened to it.
After E.U. leaders declared their support Feb. 11 for Athens's deficit-cutting program and vowed coordinated action, if needed, to safeguard stability in the euro zone, markets were looking for a clear signal of how Europe would help Greece.
