The Grexit guillotine

The Grexit guillotine was hanging on Alexis Tsipras' head when he was forced in to agreeing to a deal which envisions the Troika selling €50 million of Greek state assets.  

Faced between a leap in the dark (Grexit) and accepting a bad agreement which at least ensured the re-opening of the banks and a return to a sense of "normality",  the Greek government responsibly chose the latter.

Some blame the Greek PM for taking his country to the brink by calling for a referendum on proposals which he found unacceptable three weeks ago. 

It is true that on Monday Tsipras ended up accepting conditions which were worse than those which he had originally rejected.  Clearly faced with a brick wall in negotiations during which (in the words of the ex Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis  "you might as well have sung the Swedish national anthem -– you'd have got the same reply," Tsipras had one card up his sleeve, his government's democratic legitimacy renewed by a massive 62% rejection of the terms dictated three weeks ago. 

This proved to be a miscalculation. Little did Tsipras expect that Germany's response to the referendum would be the imposition of a greater punishment coupled with the threat of Grexit.   

Ultimately Tsipras was offered a poisoned chalice, which he could not refuse to drink from but which was clearly meant to remove him from power. It was an attempted coup which may still succeed if his party splits over the agreement and a new government is formed.

The only silver lining for Greece is that by threatening a Grexit disguised as a time-out, Schauble over reached himself, forcing a timid France to come to the defence of Greece.  Yet while this was enough to stop Grexit, it was not enough to secure a fair compromise for Greece.

In all this Malta chose to side with the hawkish camp. “We need a solution but not at any cost", tweeted the PM on Sunday when France was insisting that Grexit should not be even considered. 

Bashing Greece was also finance minister Edward Scicluna's favourite hobby during the past months.  Not to be outdone Opposition leader Simon Busuttil lambasted Tsipras for taking Greece to the brink without uttering a word on Shauble's threat to kick a member state out of the eurozone and thus undermine European values.

For what is ultimately at stake is our idea of Europe. Instead of a Europe where democratic institutions and the rule of law are strengthened through the exercise of soft power, harsh disciplinarian power is being imposed. 

Instead of a Europe where sovereignty is shared between big and small nations through subsidiarity, we have seen the imposition of a national humiliation reminiscent of the Treaty of Versaille.

It is the kind of treatment which treats proud  nation states as debt colonies which leaves a scar which can only fester with time.  The gangrene around the festering wound will provide fertile ground for fascism. 

There was an alternative to all this; an agreement which would have obliged Greece to strengthen its institutions to help it avoid the mistakes of the past but would have given it hope through a partial conditional debt write off accompanied by investment in sustainable sectors of the economy.

While the Greeks have practically no choice left but to make their best of an agreement which keeps them in the eurozone and at least ensure that the banks will open again next week, we as Europeans do have a choice. 

We are duty bound to oppose an agreement which undermines the vision of Europe's founding father whose aim was avoiding a return to the conditions which led to the second world war.  The ruination of an EU member state does not bode well for the future. 

The way Greece is being treated undermines any further and necessary steps towards greater political and social integration. For who would trust Europe with more power if its power manifests itself in shock and awe?  For in reality the current crisis is a reminder that we need more and not less Europe. 

This is why European governments should be pressured to go back to the negotiating table to offer Greece dignity and hope, two crucial items in any agreement aimed at economic recovery.  If this fails it is the whole European project which secured half a century of peace for Europe which could collapse.