Economist: Greece had chance to make EZ work better and blew it

Few Europeans were guilty of assuming that new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would perform what Greeks call a kolotoumba ("somersault") the instant he assumed duties, meaning to quickly change political positions.

The Economist provides an extensive report entitled "Greece had a chance to make the Eurozone to work better and blew it", on how Europe watched in a daze over the past two weeks as flamboyant Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis urged the Eurozone members to follow a new path.

Citing Yanis' recent televised statements to the BBC, the media standard-bearer of the world's liberal school refers to the former's statement of "? the disease that we're facing in Greece is that a problem of insolvency for five years has been treated as a problem of liquidity."

Based on the above statement, the article explains how this view would not seem outlandish in the academic world that Varoufakis recently left, and adds: "few believe that Greece's debts, worth over 175% of GDP, will ever be repaid in full. But saying so betrayed a woeful misunderstanding of the euro zone's rules. If the European Central Bank shared Mr Varoufakis's view, it would have to cut off Greek banks, potentially driving Greece out of the euro."

Furthermore, the report continues by stressing that earlier this month, when Varoufakis visited the ECB in Frankfurt, its president, Mario Draghi, curtly told him to keep his opinion to himself. He has not repeated the mistep since.

The Economist cites what it calls Varoufakis's gaffe as a mere footnote in a list of 'faux paus' that have characterized Greece's miserable experience in the euro. But it is depressingly typical for a government that, despite its rising popularity at home, has squandered every opportunity to...