Krugman on Greece

Germany is bringing on the Golden Dawn?

Insert German Curse Word Here

by Krugman

Germany says no to Greek request.To be fair, I think news reports describing the Greek letter as a complete u-turn and capitulation are wrong. I see this:

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Credit

and it looks to me as if Greece is quite carefully not committing to the original fiscal targets; it will attain “appropriate primary fiscal surpluses”, which almost surely means less than 4.5 percent of GDP. So if the German complaint is that Greece is not agreeing to lock in total surrender to the preexisting austerity plan, this appears to be right. Instead, Greece appears to be seeking to buy some time to put together an economic strategy (remember, this is a new government without a deep bench of technocrats), and to negotiate terms later. Germany, on the other hand, is trying to force Syriza into complete abandonment of its election promises right now, today.

Do the Germans really think that’s a likely outcome? I suspect not. This looks to me like an attempt to force Greece out of the euro, right now. German policy is objectively pro-Grexit.

It’s also, given the likely fallout, objectively pro-Golden Dawn.

The role of the ECB is critical here, and Peter Doyle says what I’ve been meaning to say, but better:

[I]n the event that Euro-Greek negotiations fail, the ECB should unequivocally continue to provide full ELA to Greece. Furthermore, it should make that position clear now, while negotiations on the program continue. This would determine that Euro policymakers must not only resolve Greece without the ECB stick corralling them but must also find themselves another Euro enforcement mechanism.

Crunch time.