Greek debacle will see victors among the vanquished

IN the looming debacle over Greece's membership of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), it will become commonplace to say that Europe is the loser. There will, however, be victors among the vanquished.

The collapse of emergency talks between Greek and creditor representatives in Brussels on Sunday, and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's withdrawal from attempts at a negotiated settlement, emphasise how the long-running countdown to official state bankruptcy is accelerating.

In coming days the European Central Bank (ECB) council could muster the two-thirds majority needed to break off expensive emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks through the Bank of Greece. If there is a strong risk of default in Athens' debt repayments over the next month, not only to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but also to the ECB, then the Frankfurt bank can hardly continue to function as the ultimate guarantor of the Greek banking system.