Must-Read: Karl Whelan: Greece, The Euro and Gunboat Diplomacy

Must-Read: Karl Whelan: Greece, The Euro and Gunboat Diplomacy: “As for the euro, I fear that Europe’s leaders…

…have fallen back into smugness and complacency. The constant chant that the euro will be fine after Greece leaves the euro is based on nothing other than speculation. Nobody knows how a euro exit would work or how it would affect other member states. But it will mean, for sure, that the euro is not a ‘fixed and irrevocable’ currency union. And it will mean that there are unwritten rules that link membership of the euro with willingness to pay back official loans. Those who actually believe in European monetary union need to understand on Monday that pushing the Greek government further than their current position will generate infinitesimally small financial gains for European citizens while risking a Greek exit threatens unquantifiably large potential costs.