We both know that Greece were stitched up.

Really?

A spendthrift government, allowing retirements at 55 and not collecting taxes in any meaningful way.

That's not a stitch up.

"That was fun and to round off the day, I am off to steal a charity collection box and then desecrate a place of worship.” - Smokey, The Selhurst Arms, 26/02/02

They were to a degree but he thought he could bully everyone, particularly the Germans (that never ends well) and ended up with a worse deal.

I pretty much agree with this. Countries like Greece should never have been in the Euro and when they were the EU should have become involved in directly ensuring their economic continuity. Greece maybe were a bit unlucky, given that the triggers that caused disaster were outside of their control, but their political parties entirely exploited membership of the EU and short term prosperity to promote short term popularity over long term stability.

One of the core functions that the EU could serve is to protect nations from such exploitation by the political parties and to function as a means of forcing countries towards a reasonably sustainable future for the people of that nation.

Greece went crazy, and when the Euro crashed (as the pound has done in the past) the failure of the EU to its member states was made clear. Entry and continued membership of the EU should have included a reasonable level of ensuring the sustainability of a countries economic capacity - Rather than just raping the corpse for whatever can be obtained when its gone to the wall.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
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Sorry to have posted so late, but I ruptured my spleen laughing at Gusset's response to this news heralding Varoufakis' appointment as very good.. I'll have to be careful or the stitches will go again.

The Greeks are just lazy incompetent and corrupt.... Gusset himself has acknowledged Matt's point about their inept tax collection and ridiculously early state retirement age. It is in their DNA.

They also built an underground system in Athens that commuters largely don't pay fares on when travelling and the cost of building it was paid for by Brussels as a sweetener to join. State of the art stuff with air conditioning and plasma tv screens on board - read all about it here:-

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This highlights the fundamental flaw in the EU - it is trying to create political and financial union between too many different cultures.

Greece will never be able to be in accord with the UK or Germany's economy and it was a folly to even suggest it, let alone implement it.

Were the Greeks stitched up?

Were they fcuk.

They went into this deal with eyes open and hands ready to clutch all the freebies they thought were coming their way and looked upon the EU as a rich sugar daddy who would always bail them out. The chief architect of this strategy was Varoufakis.

When the sh1t inevitably hit the fan.... quelle surprise... he started playing silly buggers and brinkmanship making matters worse.

They deserve all the financial pain they are getting right now.

As for Labour appointing Varoufakis as an advisor.... mmmmmmm.... not really a shock to anyone as Corbyn is rapidly confirming he is a political fcukwit and seems to be assembling a dream team of advisors (literally!).

Edited by Hoof Hearted (01 Mar 2016 11.02am)

Yep, and Varoufakis is very widely respected.