"Deutchland Deathgrip" -- Did Germany go too far in punishing Greece?

The outcome of the chaotic few weeks with Greece on the verge of bankruptcy and possibly leaving the European Union is that the leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras capitulated to the Eurozone's demands for even further Greek austerity in exchange for more financial bailout.

In an article for The Guardian, Phillip Oltermann quotes one of Europe's most influential contemporary European intellectuals, Jürgen Habermas, as accusing German Chancellor Angela Merkel of "gambling away" the efforts of previous generations to rebuild [Germany's] postwar reputation with its hardline stance on Greece.

Habermas:  “I fear that the German government, including its social democratic faction, have gambled away in one night all the political capital that a better Germany had accumulated in half a century."    He explained that, by threatening Greece with forced exit from the eurozone, Germany had“unashamedly revealed itself as Europe’s chief disciplinarian and for the first time openly made a claim for German hegemony in Europe.” 

He warned that the final terms made no economic sense and the austerity impositions "will completely discourage an exhausted Greek population and kill any impetus to growth. . . .  Forcing the Greek government to agree to an economically questionable, predominantly symbolic privatisation fund cannot be understood as anything other an act of punishment against a leftwing government."

Habermas is not just an ivory tower cultural theorist, though he is that too as one of the most prominent members of the Frankfurt School.   He has been an influential activist, working to establish a pan-European political and cultural identity and shaped much of the policy leading to the European Union.

Haberman describes what is happening with German leadership as a "technocratic hollowing out of democracy" resulting from market-deregulation at the cost of the welfare state.  "I do not see how a return to nation states that have to be run like big corporations in a global market can counter the tendency towards de-democratisation and growing social inequality."

Unfortunately, Tzipras had little choice because of the severity of Greece's economic crisis.  Banks have already been closed for a week;   creditors are moving in.   Despite a strong vote of "no" on accepting the EU demands, there was no way he could refuse those demands without putting Greece through an even worse period of deprivation.  

Tzipras may have made mistakes, but he inherited the mess when he became became prime minister just five months ago, when the deck was already stacked against his preferred solution.  But it must be particularly galling for a social democrat to be forced to accept the very opposite of what he believes in and campaigned for.

At this point, it's uncertain whether his government can survive.   Nearly a third of his coalition abandoned him in voting against what he had to do.   It's discouraging, in a broader sense as well, that the wrong policy (austerity) and its chief proponent (Germany) have won for the time being.   The austerity that the EU imposed on Greece five years ago only made things worse -- and now they are doubling down with more austerity.

This is a tragedy of international proportions -- as well as for Greece and its people.

Ralph