Lost in the Greek summit parade
European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he would never give up as he hurried off into the Brussels night on Saturday. That was at the end of nine tough hours during which the eurozone finance ministers searched for that elusive line of compromise that could be sustainable to their respective countries.
By the end, they couldn't even agree on a joint statement, for the differences between the political substance of the various positions is vast. One example: On one side, Syriza - the collecting pool for all of Greece's leftist currents - is set opposite the Finns Party, formerly the True Finns, the right-wing populists in Finland's coalition government. The latter makes German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble look like a softie. One side desperately wants a new aid package for Greece, the other wants to prevent that at all costs.
There is no common ground in the basic political culture either. The Germans, Slovaks, and Dutch simply no longer believe that any compromises in Greece can still actually be implemented. It is almost as if all trust in Europe has been utterly destroyed. The alternative - to deploy institutional monitors to hawkishly oversee every step that Greece makes - would only further stir up the anger that Greek people feel toward their so-called taskmaster in Germany.
The standoff also seems to have damaged the most important political alliance in the European Union. Suddenly Germany and France are, at least in the Eurogroup, opponents. The French government wants the aid package, under the motto "we'll work something out," while the Germans insist on rules and contracts. It seems as though the crisis has divided both the head and the heart of the EU.
Government leaders should rise above the details the finance ministers are caught in and deliver the help that Greece needs in one grand gesture. But that will only happen if they find the line of a possible compromise in the endless parade of Eurogroup summits. But the suspicion remains: Maybe, for the first time in the history of the euro, that line of compromise doesn't actually exist at all.