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COMMENT

Another Greek crisis is not needed in middle of Brexit debate

The Times

Greece is invariably held up as Exhibit One in the case agains the European Union. It’s six-year debt crisis - now threatening to reignite just ahead of the British referendum on EU membership - is presented as proof that the EU is an anti-democratic, sovereignty-destroying, austerity-loving bully. But this simplistic narrative is wide of the mark. The starting point for any sensible debate is to recognise that the lion’s share of the blame for Greece’s problems lies with Greece itself, which in the decades prior to the crisis enthusiastically embraced a catastrophically unsustainable economic model and has largely refused to change it since.

For sure, mistakes were made in the design of the country’s first bailout: it would have been better for Greece if not