Europe breathed a sigh of relief at the outcome of the Greek elections. I for one thought the trepidation in the face of a left wing win slightly unnecessary. After all, what Syriza proposed it going to happen anyway: a renegotiation of the terms and conditions  of the EU bail-out package for Greece, writes Rob de Wijk

A country on the edge of a financial precipice doesn’t have too many options. It can have its debts cancelled, try to minimise the deficit by cutting back or boost economic growth by devaluating its currency. And because Greece can’t devaluate and its debtors are refusing to cancel even part of the debt, it’s cutbacks and the country is being destroyed by them.

 This, and also a possible Grexit, will limit the chances of a speedy recuperation of the Greek economy. Without growth the northern European countries will lose most of the rescue money while Greece will become a third world country where Syriza or the fascist Golden Dawn could make a grab for power and declare a state of emergency. It would spell the end of democracy. The northern European politicians, especially the Dutch and the Germans, like so many Frankensteins, are creating their very own Monster.

Cooperation

But even the staunchest Eurosceptics are beginning to realise that the collapse of the euro is not in their interests and that the only solution lies in closer European cooperation. The Dutch government’s macro- economic forecasting think-tank CPB recently calculated that an escalation of the euro crisis would plunge the country into a deep recession. The CPB recommends a stronger monitoring of Eu members budget policy, a banking union which will transfer certain powers to Brussels and, for instance, a European deposit insurance scheme. These do indeed constitute steps to a more united Europe. Not because of any europhile sentiments and a hankering after a European super state but because it would be in all our interests.

I have yet to meet a eurosceptic who wasn’t worried about his savings, his job and his pension. And I have never met one who opposed a stricter budgetary discipline for the southern European countries if it served his interests. Euroscepticism is no more than a vague dislike of an European super state that is not going to materialise anyway.  It’s a sentiment encouraged by failing politicians who, rather than taking the blame, are blaming Europe. Their political shilly-shallying is not doing their credibility any good either. Prime-minister Rutte had been spouting comments of an anti-European, ant-Merkel nature until the moment he met the Chancellor face to face this week.

Technocrats

The CPB thinks the politicians are going to get us out of this crisis. If they don’t we will face a deep recession and all calculations can be chucked into the waste paper basket. But as we have seen, politicians are hopeless at crisis management. And that is why we should also look for a solution outside the political establishment. Greek prime-minister Samaras’ idea is an interesting one in this respect: he has included a group of young technocrats without (much) party political allegiance in his cabinet to help solve the crisis. If politicians who think short-term, electoral gain is more important than saving the nation, could be relegated to the side-lines for a bit, it would also strengthen Greek democracy. 

Rob de Wijk is a professor of International Relations at Leiden University and director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in The Hague

This article was published earlier in Trouw