NEW YORK TIMES: The guiding notion behind the creation of the European Union was to resolve problems like this through consensus and cooperation. Instead, the final 17-hour negotiating session was marked by acrimony not only between Greece and the European leaders, but also between Germany and France; between the German finance minister and the head of the European Central Bank; between north and south, east and west.
So the tragedy is not only that the Greek debt crisis has no end in sight, but that instead of the one-for-all-and-all-for-one ethic that was supposed to govern Europe, the rancorous talks showed a roomful of national leaders with sharply differing conceptions of what to do about a bankrupt fellow member…
The one advantage of the agreement reached early Monday is that it buys some time. But unless that time is used to discuss how to really reduce the Greek debt and restore its moribund economy to life, it will not be long before eurozone leaders are locked in another agonizing debate about what to do. Germany and its allies have driven a hard bargain, but in forcing Greece to submit they have not resolved the crisis of the monetary union or advanced the European project… (more)
EDITOR: The northern Europe leaders have sowed the seeds for the possible destruction of the European Union through their draconian treatment of Greece.
What they should have done is worked out an amicable plan for Greece to leave the Euro zone. The friendly division of Czechoslovakia into the Check and Slovakia Republics serves as a model.
The EU should come to recognize the eurozone will not work out for all members. Some may join; other may leave.
The brutal treatment of Greece by Germany will likely lead to England holding a referendum in 2016 and very possibly leaving the EU. Others may follow.
