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There is a lot of propaganda involved. Sure Greek politicians did not blame themselves for taking huge amount of credit money and wasting it.

Without paying back the money (-> to the banks), Greece would have been bancrupt within days. Thus saving the banks saved Greece from being bancrupt. Without banks and without government money from the outside, nobody would have given Greece any credits...




I don't know if you've been to Greece recently, but, at this point, a one-off bankruptcy looks much preferable to this slow and constant descent into poverty.


The thing is, the Greek system mostly worked, corruption and waste and all, before it entered the Euro area. Cheap credit and no possibility of currency devaluation broke it.

The currency union was just very badly thought out. A currency union without a fiscal union is probably a bad idea. That was recognized somewhat by the stability criteria for new members that were then swiftly ignored for various reasons.


> the Greek system mostly worked

That's highly debatable and in a changing political landscape there was no future for that. A tiny country next to the EU and a large Eurozone? Greece needed reforms and some (not all) of them were long delayed. That's also the point of the EU and the Eurozone. It provides the framework for the reforms. The largest win for Greece is a stable democracy, after a long phase of political instability and military governments.


Not saying that it would have worked - but there is actually a tiny, tiny country surrounded by the Eurozone - Switzerland. And while surely not everything is perfect there, I think they are doing quite well.




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