And that has meant less interest in an honest resolution of the crisis than in avoiding the appearance of being lenient toward Greece. Germany’s leaders might rightly fear that their country will be left holding the bill for European bailouts, but the result has been to sacrifice Greece on the altar of an abstract and unworkable idea: “no bailouts.”
欧洲的怪异的决策结构让德国国内政治凌驾于其他所有考量之上。而这意味着对诚实解决危机的兴趣比不上对避免向希腊表现宽容的兴趣。德国领导人担心最后德国必须为欧洲援助计划埋单，这也许是正确的，但结果是希腊沦为一个抽象的、不具备可行性的思想——“无援助”的祭品。除非达成一些理性的妥协，否则坚持这一方针将导致规模更大、代价也更沉重的违约。