Joshka Fischer writes:\u00a0 One can only feel sorry for Greece. For more than five years, the \u201ctroika\u201d (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) has made it the object of a failed experiment with austerity that has exacerbated the country\u2019s economic crisis. And now Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras\u2019s government seems hell-bent on plunging Greece into the abyss.<\/p>\n
It never had to be this way. By the time Tsipras\u2019s leftist Syriza party came to power in January, a new, more growth-oriented compromise had become possible. Even hardcore German proponents of austerity \u2013 and certainly Chancellor Angela Merkel \u2013 had begun to reconsider their position, owing to their policy prescriptions\u2019 undeniable adverse consequences for the euro and the stability of the European Union.<\/p>\n
The Tsipras government, with some justification, could have presented itself as Europe\u2019s best partner for implementing a far-reaching program of reform and modernization in Greece.<\/p>\n
But Tsipras squandered Greece\u2019s opportunity, because he and other Syriza leaders were unable to see beyond the horizon of their party\u2019s origins in radical opposition activism.<\/p>\n
Of course, it is precisely the acceptance of necessity that marks the difference between government and opposition. An opposition party may voice aspirations, make promises, and even dream a little; but a government party cannot remain in some imaginary world or theoretical system.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Tsipras seems to have forgotten the Marxist tradition\u2019s emphasis on the dialectical unity of theory and practice. If you want to negotiate a change of tack with your creditors, you are unlikely to succeed if you destroy your own credibility and rant and rave about those whose money you need to avoid default.<\/p>\n
But Syriza\u2019s inability to escape its radical bubble does not explain why it formed a coalition with the far-right Independent Greeks, when it could have governed with one of the centrist pro-European parties.<\/p>\n
Within Europe\u2019s monetary union, a consensus has been established that everything possible must be done to keep Greece inside. But Greece\u2019s government needs to understand that other eurozone members will not be willing to accommodate its demands if it means delegitimizing their own painful reforms.<\/p>\n
A disorderly Greek exit from the euro \u2013 currently the greatest danger \u2013 can be averted only if both sides operate on the assumption that the upcoming negotiations are not about who wins and who loses.<\/p>\n
But others in Europe need to abandon their illusions as well. The Greek crisis cannot be used either to weaken European conservatives and change the balance of power within the EU, or to remove the Greek left from office.<\/p>\n
The current crisis and the negotiations to resolve it are about only one thing: Greece\u2019s future within Europe and the future of the joint European project.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joshka Fischer writes:\u00a0 One can only feel sorry for Greece. For more than five years, the \u201ctroika\u201d (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) has made it the object of a failed experiment with austerity … Continue reading ![\"Grexit\"](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Grexit-300x170.jpg\")
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