Varoufakis: "Western Democracies need a New Deal."

I can't get a sense that you're actually arguing anything coherent. Other than perhaps that the EU shouldn't do anything about the situation, while at the same time the situation in Greece degenerates. Presumably it will end up in the government falling.

In 2010, while it is true that the Greek economy would have suffered a significant blow in a default scenario, this is not really the relevant point.

The analysis and concern over the problems in Greece revolved around the issue of what happens to the wider EU economy if Greece defaults. The buzzword of that day was contagion. It was accepted that a Greek default would result in a cascade of exposures and subsequent defaults that might have brought down the euro.

And the resulting solution was done with an eye to prevent contagion rather than to rescue Greece. We can say this clearly in hindsight, and also because the question about the future of Greece after the bailout was not really asked. This is the basis of what Varoufakis is complaining about.

To be specific, the solution solved only one problem (contagion). If it had also contained an imperative to rescue Greece, as a second imperative, then it would not have been offered in the form it was. Because the saddling of Greece with the loan and austerity package that occurred would not, and will not, ever result in a stable and healthy Greek economy.

And to be honest, this point is not in contention anywhere. The IMF made this point themselves when they said that the 2010 programme was a mistake. And recall that this report got leaked while Greece was negotiating the bailout package when Syriza first gained power.

The IMF has in fact been saying repeatedly that the entire approach to Greece wasn't going to work without debt forgiveness. Real debt forgiveness, explicitly the kind verboten in German politics.

Now as to the rest of the argument you're making about compliance with the review programmes, they are simply standard smears devoid of truth. Greece has repeatedly faced review examination and has passed; creditors have agreed to release subsequent funding. Greek pensions have been cut 12 times since 2010. VAT increases were realised. The privatisation programme went forward.

And Syriza passed a significant number of the Troika demanded legal changes, despite a worsening political situation. The problem right now is that there isn't space for further cuts to achieve a 3.5% surplus. It's a blood and stone problem, amidst a very much worsening public and political unrest. The validity of the political system in Greece is coming into question.

or that the Greek economy took a massive hit around the time Tsirpas and Varoufakis came to power

This is untrue. The only damage that was done to the Greek economy because of V. and Tsipras had to do with impact on the banking sector because Greek banks were used as leverage to force Greece to capitulate. The more heated the negotiations, and the more Greece resisted, the tighter the noose. As well as the more the markets became volatile, with a lot of capital flight before controls were put in place.

The disparate threads of your argument are basically a 'Greece is lazy and badly disciplined' rephrasing. It is the basis upon which to continue imposing punitive measures upon them, and to placate German and other Opposition criticism of the need for more drastic intervention to ease the burden.

The Greek people are suffering in a way that is both unethical and also un-European. It goes against the very core of the idea of what the EU stands for. There is nothing that the Greeks can do to get out of the situation they are in. More austerity will not fix it. Nor will privatising everything and selling it off to the Chinese on the market.

There are serious social and human costs to the situation in Greece and we should be ashamed that it is being allowed to continue.

/r/europe Thread Parent Link - bbc.com