When Eurozone finance ministers agreed a 130-billion-euro bail-out for Greece yesterday, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker described it as “a comprehensive blueprint for putting the public finances and the economy of Greece back on a sustainable footing, and hence for safeguarding financial stability in the eurozone”. It is no such thing. It will do nothing but buy a little time. In any case, how can you solve a debt crisis by piling on more debt?
It may be true that no country can devalue its way to prosperity, but at least if Greece were to default on its debts and leave the euro it would recover its sovereignty and autonomy. As things stand, the birthplace of democracy is being run by unelected EU technocrats.
Maybe Greece deserves this for lying and cheating its way into the Eurozone in the first place, but make no mistake – buying time simply stops the clock for Greece and leaves it trapped in today’s privation and austerity. And it is being deprived of the wherewithal to do anything about it.
