EU praises Tsipras's reform plans
Ahead of the EU leaders' emergency summit this Monday the Greek government has presented the creditors with new proposals for solving the debt crisis. The European Commission said the proposals formed a "good basis" for negotiations. While some commentators say a Grexit would severely undermine the EU's credibility others see it as a possibility to restore trust in democracy.
Grexit would be politically inconsistent
A Grexit would not only be economically disastrous but also a terrible political setback for the European project, the centre-left daily Le Monde believes: "How to explain in political terms to the many Europeans who are doubtful about the euro that it's worth the sacrifice and every bit in their own interest? How to convince international investors that the euro is a currency of the future? The political impact of a Grexit would be no less disadvantageous. If the European leaders who struggled for months in 2010 and 2012 to save Greece at the cost of hundreds of billions of euros now let the country go over far smaller sums, it would demonstrate political inconsistency and put an end to the idea of European solidarity. The impact on Greece would be even more disastrous. ... The country would be left adrift, although to make a success of its future it is so much in need of reforms."
Greek bankruptcy for the good of democracy
Another bailout package for Greece would be bad for democracy in Germany, the conservative daily Bild believes, and therefore calls for a Grexit: "The damage that our democracy and the people's trust in politics would suffer as a consequence of another bailout package pushed through against all reason is far worse than the consequences of a potential Grexit. A parliament that always speaks out against providing billions in additional aid and then agrees to it in the end will lose the trust of the voters. A parliament that lacks trust is the most lethal poison for a democracy. ... Leaving the euro doesn't mean leaving Europe. On the contrary, a Grexit would offer Greece the chance to return to the European community as a self-confident, economically stable country."
Greece is a failed state
Greece's main problem is not the euro or the conflict with its creditors but the lack of state structures, economist Thomas Straubhaar writes in the liberal Aargauer Zeitung newspaper: "Neither a Grexit nor another compromise will alter the fact that Greece is a 'failed state'. … More than new loans or a Grexit what Greece needs is credibility, trust and efficient state institutions. Corruption, tax evasion, cronyism and illicit work are the rule rather than the exception. So it's no use demanding for the umpteenth time what the Greeks can't give. It's no use pushing for them to increase state revenues and reduce government spending without first of all ensuring that the Greek state is subject to comprehensive reforms."
Eurozone won't survive in its current form
With or without Greece the Eurozone has no future in its current form, columnist Brendan Keenan writes in the conservative daily Irish Independent: "The show is not over yet but many have noted that it would not be the first time Europe stumbled into a disaster that no one except those on the extremes actually wanted. ... We are left with a monetary union in which states might be bailed out with loans, but in which there will be no transfers from richer to poorer, and where Greece has already shown that membership of the monetary union is not sacrosanct. That is a system which cannot work in the long run, whether Greece stays or goes."