Don’t blame the Greeks

One can’t help but admire the Greeks. To be sure, they lied and cheated their way into the euro, and even the threat of a referendum on the bailout may yet tip the eurozone into a financial abyss. But there is something to be said for actually consulting the people about their future. Greece faces a choice: a decade (or more) of Frankfurt-enforced austerity, or bringing back the drachma and defaulting on their loans. Neither option is attractive. But this is about sovereignty, not just about money. This needs to be seen as a choice of the Greek people, not a deal imposed from outside and aimed primarily at saving eurozone banks.

No wonder that George Papandreou, Greece’s American-born prime minister, gave Brussels no prior notice of his decision. The idea of a referendum goes against the whole modus operandi of the EU project, whereby the people are there to be invoked, not actually consulted.