The saga of Greece and the European Union (EU) has attracted lots of analysis and opinion. Continuing to look at the situation from the conflict management perspective, now it’s time to move past conflict prevention and conflict reduction to conflict resolution.
When the financial woes of Greece took center stage, the economically stronger members of the EU were faced with a crisis. Leaving aside whether the problems could or should have been tackled sooner, the crisis need to be resolved — with as little pain as possible. Yet, as so often happens, those who could bite the bullet and find a resolution dragged their feet instead. And in the process, Greece’s financial woes deepened, its ability to borrow money deteriorated further, and its debt increased steeply. The assistance required from the EU grew. By delaying the resolution of the crisis, the EU made its own situation worse, and gave up an imperfect solution for one even less desirable.
