Ancient Greece invented democracy. But modern Greece is in danger of giving democracy a bad name. Squabbling by rival politicians in Athens threatens to escalate the European debt crisis, with grave consequences for Greece, the European Union and the world economy as a whole.
To avert this, it is crucial that Greek politicians bury their differences – if only for a few months – so that they can form a national unity government that will back the latest rescue package from the European Union. It should be remembered that while the deal agreed a couple of weeks ago will involve more austerity in Greece, it also entails massive loans to the country and a 50 per cent write-down of Greek debt held by private bondholders – and therefore some badly needed partial relief from the crushing burden of debt.
If the Greek parliament fails, nonetheless, to approve this deal – the promised billions from Europe will not arrive in December. At that point the Greek state could well be unable to pay salaries and pensions and Greece would be on the brink of a disorderly default.