Ioannis Vrailas, deputy head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, will discuss "Crisis in the Eurozone: Problems and Prospects," at 5 p.m. Monday, March 5, in Room 302 of the University of Wyoming Classroom Building.
Vrailas, a Greek, has spent more than 25 years working on European economic and security issues, and has been appointed to a number of positions within the EU, the UN and at Greek embassies around the world. He holds degrees from the University of Athens and Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
His talk will focus on the current debt crisis within the Eurozone, which has seen the financial collapse of three of its member countries and continues to be marked with market volatility.
The introduction of the euro in 2002 saw the consolidation of the world's largest trading area. The EU has recently been plagued with an overwhelming debt crisis. With the latest bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the economic difference between EU member states has led to political unrest in several countries. Since being on the verge of bankruptcy, Greece will be given a second massive bailout by European officials, which agreed to the action Feb. 21.
Monday's lecture is funded by a United States Department of Education grant received by the UW International Studies Program in partnership with Wyoming community colleges.
"The three-year grant provides a unique opportunity for Wyoming colleges to collaborate on internationalization efforts, chiefly to develop a cohesive academic track in international studies and to expand courses with international content and foreign language offerings at community colleges," says Jean Garrison, UW International Studies Program director. "The International Studies Scholars Lecture Series is another component to the grant and is designed to raise awareness of global issues among Wyoming college students and the state's general population."
