Editorial
February 17, 2012
“Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath”
Solon, ancient Greek lawmaker
In the beginning there was trust, or at least the appearance of it. Greece, staring default in the face, solemnly promised the most far-reaching reforms to its administrative culture and economy since it joined the European Union in 1981. This was always a little hard to swallow. But hope and fear spring eternal in the eurozone breast.
So Greece’s allies set aside their scepticism and accepted the promises of reform. Arguably, the threat posed by the debt crisis to the eurozone’s survival left them with little choice. In any event, emergency aid worth €110bn was swiftly on its way to Athens. That was in May 2010. Today, after two years of rampant political mischief, ingenious bureaucratic obstruction and social resistance that lurches into outright lawlessness, the reforms have fallen far short of the demands of Greece’s international creditors.
The danger of a national economic collapse is rising: in the final three months of 2011, the economy shrank by a year-on-year rate of 7 per cent. Another rescue is imminent – this time, to the tune of €130bn.
Yet the dynamics of the crisis are now much changed. As became evident this week, Europe’s faith that Greece will do what it says it will do has all but evaporated. Solon, the discerning statesman of ancient Athens, would not have been surprised. All the oaths in the world mean nothing, he said, if the person mouthing them is unable or unwilling to honour his word.
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