William Keegan: Greek stay of economic execution raises pantomime spectre of post-war politics
The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, could not resist it, could he? In what for your correspondent was the nastiest quote of the week, Herr Schauble just had to rub it in by proclaiming the Greek government "certainly will have a difficult time explaining the deal to its voters". He was, of course, referring to the compromise agreement, or stay of economic execution, hammered out between the Greeks and the finance ministers of the rest of the eurozone on 20 February in Brussels. Against the background of a Black Friday run on its banks, the Greek government had little alternative but to agree to draw up a batch of "reform measures", almost certainly involving more austerity than they bargained for, in order to extend the €172bn (£126bn, $195bn) rescue programme for four months.
