Is The Troika Trying to Kill Greek Democracy?
E. Wayne Merry July 23, 2012
Everyone knows Europe faces the potential for Greek financial collapse, with serious ramifications for the euro zone and its financial institutions. Less discussed is the Greek impact on another key European institution, the less restrictive border regime instituted under the Schengen Treaty, and the danger of failure of constitutional democracy in an EU member state.
Perhaps the smartest thing modern Greece ever did was join the European Community (now the European Union) in 1981. The Greeks’ dumbest move was to join the euro twenty years later. The EU gave their Third World economy a First World lifestyle. This miracle was achieved through massive financial transfers from richer EU members into the modest scale of the Greek economy and by pervasive Greek violations of EU rules and standards. Governments in Athens (of Left and Right) used EU money to buy domestic support through welfare programs worthy of a Persian Gulf emirate. For a generation, this worked just fine. Other European governments saw Greece as an annoyance but not worth the trouble to straighten out.
