The biggest question raised by Syriza’s election victory last January was not about Greece. It was whether any national population that has adopted the euro can meaningfully express a democratic choice.
This is a test case of the euro itself. If monetary union and democracy are incompatible, even the euro’s most committed friends must choose the latter. Fortunately, they are not incompatible. But European policy is premised on the opposite view. Without a change in approach, it must lead to failure.
The list of pressures on Greeks’ self-determination is uniquely long. It includes, first, the extraordinary micromanagement of policy by creditors. Second, the shameless intervention in Greek elections by European leaders who both in 2012 and in 2015 made abundantly clear they wanted Greeks to re-elect the same discredited elites. Third, the huge efforts made to avoid any plebiscitary upset, or even support, of the eurozone’s policy programme.