German government denounces Greek proposal as "Trojan Horse"

Rather than publicly explain their reasons for rejecting the latest proposal from the Greek government to keep their country solvent, the German finance ministry leaked a memo explaining their reasons. There are some reasonable arguments in here, but I do think a tell is that they describe the Greek ideas as a "Trojan Horse"

This gets at the fact that the Germans simply don't trust the Syriza government that is running Greece. It also gets at the fact that one of the reasons they don't trust them is simply that they are Greek. The Greeks are viewed as an unreliable country that is in need of discipline and reform, and Syriza is seen as a political project that is fundamentally about resisting reform. The Greek proposal read at a high level as Greece basically giving in to what Germany wanted, but the Germans don't want to sign anything that has any wiggle room because they don't trust the Greeks.

Efforts to assess the situation purely through the lens of macroeconomic models necessarily end up leaving this human and political element out. But it's a huge driver of the process.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via