Greece: Papandreou’s All-In Bet

Democracy? In Greece? Investors and political elites squawked in early November at the prospect of ordinary Greeks getting a chance to vote in a referendum on the latest austerity package handed down to them by foreign powers. The betting was that angry citizens would reject the deal, jeopardizing the future of the euro zone. In the long run, though, more democracy just might be the best thing that could happen to European solidarity.

The creation of the European common market after World War II and the euro in 1999 were projects of the Continent’s elites. They believed that economic and monetary union would bring political harmony, ensuring that Europeans would never again go to war with one another. Ordinary Europeans never bought into the idea that becoming a United States of Europe would require surrendering their national sovereignty. Now that the single currency is in crisis, they’re balking at doing what must be done to keep the euro zone from fracturing. The world has learned the Greek word for no: “Oxi.”