Greece is becoming a global headache. The crisis in the Eurozone and the extravagant response from Athens were on the agenda of the G20 summit in Cannes on Wednesday.

Just a week ago, it seemed that the painful issue of Greece’s rescue from a financial debt pit had been settled. EU leaders Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy announced the rescue package at 4.30 am on October 27th. Eurozone leaders and private banks agreed on writing off 50%, or €100bln, of Greece’s €360bln state debt. In return, Athens promised to follow a 10-year austerity program.

However, as all EU leaders gathered in Cannes for a G20 summit on Wednesday, it became clear that the issue of Greece’s debt was far from resolved. At 3.00 am on Wednesday Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said that Greece needed the consent of its people to pursue austerity measures and that it would hold a nationwide referendum on the EU bailout. The EU had never expected such a twist in the policies of a country on which it had spent billions. Later on, the Greek government backed off in favor of the EU and IMF bailout, either voluntarily, or under the pressure from the EU’s “heavyweights”, Germany and France.

The EU can count on support from Russia and the rest of the BRICS countries. Russia, India, Brazil, China and South Africa are all interested in keeping one of the global reserve currencies – the euro – afloat. This is what President Medvedev had to say on this.

"The BRICS countries should render assistance to help the euro out. It’s too early to say how much each of them can contribute. There are certain quotas we all shoulder in the IMF. Russia wants the previous agreements on the revision of the quotas to be implemented in full."

Russia is ready to allocate $10bln dollars, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

"It was Russia’s previous commitment to the IMF to provide $10bln for global economic recovery. So it will be allocating this sum in any case. Whether there will be a need for additional funds is unclear. Should we receive a request to this effect, we’ll consider it."

The current situation in Greece is crucial for the future of the Eurozone. The euro needs urgent help and it needs public trust. The demise of the common European currency would cost the EU too dearly, Nicolas Sarkozy said.

"The euro is our treasure. It ensures the peace on the European continent and has to be protected. The Eurozone will surely pull itself together. The EU currency envisages certain commitments and rights for those within the Eurozone. All the EU members should demonstrate solidarity in preventing the collapse of the euro, which would be the collapse of Europe."

Fortunately, none of the G20 countries is showing any signs of despair. The members of the Big Twenty have approved specific measures to boost economic growth on the global and national levels. The final communiqué of the G20 summit provides for a string of measures to bring currency rates in conformity with the demands of the market and take additional steps in support of domestic markets if needed. The US has undertaken to get down to work in order to cut its sovereign debt-to-GDP ratio.