It appears Greece is slowly caving to the Germans, chiefly because the markets called the bluff of their tiny economy. Once it became evident that Greek default wouldn’t roil the world’s markets—bond spreads even on other weak Euro-states barely budged—Greece lost its leverage, despite the landslide referendum vote. (I think the market turmoil of China is much more significant at the moment.)
But their leverage is not totally dissipated. Clearly the factotums of the European Union fear the political fallout of a Greek exit from the Euro, and perhaps the unraveling of their great centralization project. And think of how this whole episode is playing out in Britain right now, which will hold its own referendum sometime soon on whether to remain in the EU. You can practically hear the tightening sphincters of all the little Brussel Sprouts at EU HQ.
Hence it is interesting to see the irascible Nigel Farage, normally a pariah, getting applause and cheers in the European Parliament for his ringing attack on the northern states of the EU (particularly Germany and France) in this entirely typical Farage barrage (4 minutes):
If you have another seven minutes, here’s an impassioned speech of Guy Verhofstadt, described as a leading “Liberal” (always an unclear designation in Europe) lecture Tsipras about how Greece need to clean up its act. Tsipras seems by his body language to be saying, “It’s all Greece to me!”
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