# taz.de -- Grexit and the Eurozone: Destroyed confidence
       
       > The monetary system is based on confidence, and that confidence has been
       > shattered. The end of the monetary union is dawning – even if Greece
       > remains in the euro.
       
   IMG Bild: The Euro will be busted from within – or burned.
       
       World history is being made: Whatever might happen in Greece during the
       next few days, it will transform the eurozone forever. The disintegration
       of the currency union has begun, even if Greece were to remain in the Euro.
       
       The shut banks throughout Greece are a new symbol for the slow erosion of
       the eurozone. Every financial system is built on confidence, and that
       confidence is sapped.
       
       The European Central Bank actually had no choice. It could not fail to
       ignore the fact that there was no way to reach an agreement between Greece
       and the leaders of the eurozone. As a consequence, the ECB had to cap the
       level of emergency loans to Greek banks.
       
       It’s the European governments that are to blame for trying to impose a
       one-sided austerity regime on Greece. Their finance ministers have at no
       point advanced any proposal worthy of the name. In recent months both sides
       kept repeating they were „converging“, when in fact it was only Greece that
       was making concessions. The rest of the eurozone stubbornly refused to
       yield.
       
       It’s quite likely that Greece will surrender in the end. Most voters want
       to stay in the eurozone, and they want to save their assets and deposits
       being frozen at Greek banks right now.
       
       ## Busted from within
       
       Yet even if Greece bows to the dictate, it is no „victory“ for the other
       European finance ministers. Fear will continue to eat its way through the
       whole monetary union. Whenever a country runs into difficulties in the
       future, angst-ridden citizens will rush to empty their bank accounts in a
       panic reaction. Worse still: Since a country’s exit from the eurozone seems
       conceivable from now on, banks will factor the risk into their calculations
       of interest rates.
       
       Currently Italian, Spanish and Portuguese companies are compelled to pay
       higher interest on credits than German companies, simply because their
       headquarters are in Italy, Spain or Portugal. This distorts competition –
       always in favour of Germany. The euro, while it still exists, is thus
       busted from within.
       
       It may seem paradoxical, but the Greek crisis would have afforded an
       opportunity to make clear, once and for all, that the monetary union will
       hold together unconditionally. This would have allowed the union to
       consolidate. Europe’s leaders, however, are moving in a different
       direction. We are currently witnessing the beginning of the end.
       
       4 Jul 2015
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
   DIR Ulrike Herrmann
       
       ## TAGS
       
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz international
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
       
       ## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
       
   DIR After the Euro Summit in Brussels: Thus fails Europe
       
       Thanks to a loathsome alliance, Merkel and Schäuble have been able to
       impose all of Germany’s demands on Greece. The result is a regime of
       sanctions and coercion.
       
   DIR Economist about the ECB and Greece: Like setting off a nuclear bomb
       
       The ECB denying Greece emergency loans would be blackmail, writes the
       economist Martin Hellwig. A crisis like 1931 could be created.
       
   DIR After the Greek referendum: History in the Making
       
       The outcome of the referendum is clear. Now more than ever it’s up to the
       ECB, alongside the Greek government, to come up with solutions.
       
   DIR Angela Merkel and the Greek crisis: Is the Chancellor invulnerable?
       
       Angela Merkel is prepared to push through a third aid package for Athens.
       The opposition accuses her of wanting to help the Greek banks, not its
       citizens.
       
   DIR Crisis in Greece: Europe’s helpless leftists
       
       Syriza’s politics was a proposal for the system to show good will. This was
       both naïve and impassioned.