THE EU AND GREECE: TRAGEDY OR THE BEGINNING OF THE END?

12 February 2012

A few years ago, a British writer wrote a book called ‘Why Europe will Run the 21st Century. It was a silly title then and looks even more ridiculous now. Nevertheless, the author and his hubristic opinions seemed to have captured a moment in time.

Move on seven years and German Chancellor Angela Merkel – with no small measure of anxiety and frustration, claims that the failure of the Euro will be the end of Europe. Is Greece’s economic mismanagement and unsustainable debt a catastrophe of such proportions that it threatens an EU construct built up over half a century and more?