The whole Greek bailout project was a delusional aspiration from the start.

A european diplomat talking sense what ever next? Even if this deal does go a head it’s only kicking the can down the road again. I pity the Greek people their going to suffer a lot and not for something that will work…..

Jesus poor Greece, what about us? Let’s worry about ourselves for once. At least the Greeks put up a fight not like the weak Irish. This country is a joke

Reprimand me if the following comment is wrong or infactual. But the ultimate function of being a member of the EU is one of contributing to the economic welfare to this very community.
I see Greece as a loose canon. A country which will in the longterm be a financial burden on other EU countries. (including Ireland).
Greece will never be in a position to repay their debt.
They will never be in a position to contribute toward EU protocol.

How much did band aid raise again?

I have been following the Euro Zone crisis for some time and I have read a lot of postulations and comments by posters. The whole debacle is becoming a charade, with accusations and counter accusations. I sometimes wonder how very seemingly intelligent people can make a mockery of a potentially viable project such as the EU.

I am sure we all know the root cause of the EZ crisis so there is no need for further elucidation. My concern as it is a lot of folks, is the responce and the crisis management OR the lack of it by the European political class. There seems to be a lot of division among the EU establishment and even within caucuses in Europe as to the best way to deal with the crisis. This is obviously expected, given the magnitude of the challenge of the dire financial/economic reality of Europe at the ‘moment’ but this divisions lends credence to those who believe and argue that Europe should be more about trade and economics rather than a political union.

Lest we forget, in constrast with popular belief Monet et al established the ECSC in an attempt to achieve ‘both ecomonic-common market and political integration’ to forestall future conflicts in the region. I have previously argued that the initial intentions were based on ‘economics’ to revive the Europe after the devastating effects of the World Wars 1 and 2 and humiliation of getting an American ‘bail-out’ in the name of a ‘Marshall plan’. Pardon my naivety- I am neither European nor American and obviously I did not pay enough attention in my history classes. But it was much more than that, as most people would know, it gave birth to the Franco-German axis and the other power in Europe – the UK would have none of it. Enough of the history lesson or more appropriately (Gibberish).

In a nutshell, Europe has to redefine herself. We have a rich Northern Europe that is unready to share her wealth with her southern partners- in terms of direct payment- akin to similar unions (i.e. US, UK) where rich regions make transfer payments to augment deficiencies in poorer sections of the union. Germany has a valid argument. They say if that was the case it would be ‘one sidedly painful’ . It has being proposed by ‘eminent economists, financial experts,observers and even government officials’ this would be in the form of EUROBONDS where there are mechanisms to ensure collective responsibility or if you like a ‘debt union’. Germany has a point to enforce a fiscal union where governments have to sign up to minimum debt brakes and what us mortals know as prudence. They do have a point!

I have a problem with their approach though. If you have been been following, I have not not mentioned Sarkozy or the influence of France- why? Because I do not see their relevance in this at all. France is struggling. Forget the posturing and the grandstanding from Paris, they have no say in this. Small ‘Netherlands’ as an ‘AAA rated economy’ commands far bigger recognition and respect. Monsieur Sarkozy has an election to fight and intiutively had to make Ms Merkel happy at all cost even though his chances for re-election are quite slim to say the least. The ‘PIIGS’ are being tortured and the manner in which the Greek drama is unfolding is an absurdity. Greece is bankrupt, it cannot pay its debt- YES the country is culpable and should shoulder her responsibilities but the way it is being villified and bullied is abysmally insane. Brings me back to the beginning, the talk of Franco-German solidarity seems to locally confined to a selected few- OR else why on earth would they make obscene demands in return for helping a ‘brother out’?

The sooner Greece goes to the wall and everyone here and in europe gets a reality check the better for everyone.. Thats what I think..

Do what Iceland did,and give them all the fingers.Iceland soon bounced back.