Guardian
May 7, 2012
It happens like this. The election result in Greece means pro-austerity parties lack the parliamentary support and the moral authority to govern. Demands from Athens for the tough bailout conditions to be softened are turned down flat by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.
Political impasse in Greece leads to a second general election being called for next month. Angela Merkel makes it clear the next tranche of cash to keep Greek banks and the Greek state solvent will not be given unless the plan is adhered to in full. The strains on the single currency become intolerable; Greece leaves the euro and defaults, starting the process by which monetary union unravels.
In May 2010, when David Cameron and Nick Clegg were negotiating the terms of their coalition agreement and Greece received its first package of financial support, the idea that Europe was about to be gripped by a crisis that would put monetary union in peril was ridiculed. On Monday, as the euro fell on the foreign exchanges, the Greek stock market plunged and investors piled into the safe haven of German bunds, it no longer seems quite so far-fetched.
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