Athens sources: Greeks plan to default inside Eurozone, Merkel seen as having “fallen into bear trap”
Whichever way you cut it, the only thing the Greek Government has done is to reveal an insoluble split at the heart of the European Union.
The view this afternoon among the Athens cognoscenti is that Syriza’s long-foreseen game plan alternatives are playing out pretty much according to expectations: that is, the Franco-German divide on federal futures and fiscal discipline is there for all to see….and becoming increasingly obvious.
The Slog first posted about this in November 2011, and predicted that, ultimately, it would lead to a fracture bad enough to destroy the EU. Earlier this week we saw Varoufakis ready to sign a French-inspired deal, and then the German Panzers rolling over it within hours. In the Parliament later, Tsipras did not seem surprised – and indeed, joked about it.
It’s time some of the commentators on this saga re-read the Lisbon Treaty. Under that agreement, there is no legal provision or framework in EU Treaties for a country to leave the euro; a decision to join the single currency was deliberately designed as an irreversible move.
Nor is there any possibility of Greece being “forced” to leave: whatever Germany, Draghi or Dieselboom threatens, the Greek antidote is simple: default within the eurozone.
That will implode markets around the world, encourage the likes of Italy, Portugal and Spain to do the same…and vastly increase the cost of all sovereign borrowing.
The Greeks could go the way of the Brits – and decide to leave the EU. But as article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty asserts, even that would require two years notice from the State to Brussels. And again, there is no way under that article that a jumper can be ‘pushed’.
Berlin posturing and Frankfurt threats will not cut any ice with Athens. Indeed, in behaving in this Mobster way, all they’re doing is shooting off their metatarsals.
Think about all this….and then ignore the drivel you’re being fed by West European media.
The Slog 