--- title: Why Europe Can’t Leave Greece in Debt description: Even though the country got itself into its huge debt mess canonical: https://time.com/3935319/why-europe-cant-leave-greece-adrift/ author: Ian Bremmer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-25T10:51:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:49.327Z article:section: World og:title: Why Europe Can’t Leave Greece in Debt og:description: Even though the country got itself into its huge debt mess og:url: https://time.com/3935319/why-europe-cant-leave-greece-adrift/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf256df6d4c60665/6988583735ba6f5d81c0de95/greece-crisis-euro-bailout.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: greece-crisis-euro-bailout og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Europe Can’t Leave Greece in Debt twitter:description: Even though the country got itself into its huge debt mess twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf256df6d4c60665/6988583735ba6f5d81c0de95/greece-crisis-euro-bailout.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Europe Can’t Leave Greece Adrift ## Video: Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now [Watch (HLS stream): Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PqXWqYtA.m3u8) (4:20)  _Published 2015-01-13. A yearly look ahead about what you should—and shouldn’t—worry about in the geopolitical and economic landscape for 2015_  by [Ian Bremmer](/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Jun 25, 2015 10:51 AM CUT  A protester at a pro-European demonstration in Athens. A protester at a pro-European demonstration in Athens.Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty Images  by [Ian Bremmer](/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Jun 25, 2015 10:51 AM CUT It’s easy to condemn the posturing of Greece’s Syriza-led government in its battle with its European creditors. Greece ran up a major debt and must pay. If Greece can walk away from its commitments, it will only need more bailouts in the future. Its creditors offer bitter medicine, but medicine is what’s required, and Athens must swallow it. But look beyond Syriza’s amateurish posturing and see the ordeal the Greek people have already endured. Spain, Portugal and Ireland have lost less than 7% of GDP since the euro-zone crisis began. Greece has lost 26%. Nearly 1 in 5 Greeks can’t meet daily food expenses. Homelessness is rising. Rates of HIV infection have doubled since 2011 as unemployment pushes more young people toward drug use and treatment funding is sharply cut. In Norway, the child-poverty rate is 5.3%. In Greece, it’s 40.5%. The British Medical Journal has found a “significant, sharp and sustained increase” in suicides. Greece has taken extraordinary steps to meet the demands of its creditors. Over the past five years, it has cut spending and raised taxes on a scale equivalent to 30% of GDP. No other euro-zone government has done nearly so much. Pension benefits have been cut and the retirement age raised to 67\. And for every euro in bailout funds, the Greek government receives less than 20%. The rest goes to bankers and bondholders. Both must be paid back, but Greece must eventually grow its economy as well. Today that’s more of an aspiration than a plan, but if the medicine used to cure this country’s profligate political culture leaves a generation of citizens flat on their backs, how can Greeks apply lessons learned and get back to work? For Europe, the biggest risk is not that Greece will escape its responsibilities, encouraging other countries to try the same trick. It’s that this polarizing crisis could further fuel anti-E.U. sentiment across the continent. Anger at European institutions has boosted old and new parties of both the left and right: Syriza and Golden Dawn in Greece, Podemos in Spain, the U.K. Independence Party in Britain, the National Front in France, Alternative for Deutschland in Germany, the Five Star Movement in Italy and others. It is the growth of these parties, and the public anger they represent, that poses the biggest threat to further European reform and the entire European project. Tensions rise between the U.S. and Russia The Pentagon has announced that it is sending tanks, artillery and other military supplies to U.S. allies in Eastern Europe. The total amount of equipment is equivalent to a brigade’s worth, or as a senior U.S. military official put it, not quite enough to “fill up the parking lot of your average high school.” Still, the move is provocative, aimed as much at Vladimir Putin as it is at Washington’s wobbly European allies. On June 22, E.U. Foreign Ministers decided to extend sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Imposing those sanctions, and bearing the brunt of Russia’s countersanctions, is taking a toll. But Washington needs a united front against the Kremlin. Positioning the equipment is enough to ramp up tensions but not nearly enough to convince Russia to back off. Bottom line? We’re heading for escalation with Russia. ### A Look Inside Austerity-Hit Greece  Riot police detain a demonstrator during a protest in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  A young protestor is seen after severe clashes took place in central Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  A protester uses a flare pistol against riot police during clashes during a general strike in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  An alley near Omonia Square frequently used by drug users. Angelos Tzortzinis  Dinos sleeps at the living room of his house with the light of a candle at the Perama district in Athens. Dinos lives with his mother Dimitra at a small house without electricity the last six months. Thousands of Greek families live without electricity. Angelos Tzortzinis  Anna works as a prostitute and is seen here with her boyfriend Michalis at a hotel in central Athens. Anna prostitutes daily and also uses drugs. Angelos Tzortzinis  Adriana works as a prostitute and is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. She is seen being is kissed by her boyfriend Nikos. Adriana has no health insurance and cannot cover the expenses of her pregnancy. Angelos Tzortzinis  Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos delivers a speech to party supporters during a rally. Michaloliakos is now imprisoned. Angelos Tzortzinis  Clothes are packed in a car which serves as shelter for a homeless man. Angelos Tzortzinis  People grab free produce distributed by farmers in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  A woman cries during a demonstration of municipal workers in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  A makeshift homeless shelter is seen in the centre of Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  A boy is seen in a crowd at a Golden Dawn party pre-election rally in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis  An immigrant rests next to the port of Igoumenitsa, waiting for a chance to jump on a truck heading to Italy. Angelos Tzortzinis  Matina Tetsiou, her husband Lenos Aspros and their children rest in their living room at the district of Nea Ionia., Athens. Matina and Lenos are both unemployed. Angelos Tzortzinis  Stela is a drug addict and also works as a prostitute. She suffers from hepatitis. Angelos Tzortzinis  A Palestinian family is seen resting at a train station after a five hour journey on foot from the Greek-Turkish border. Angelos Tzortzinis  Immigrants from Somalia and Afganistan are seen under arrest by the Hellenic Coast guard. Angelos Tzortzinis How Pope Francis filled a global leadership vacuum Amid the din in Europe, one voice has risen above the rest: that of Pope Francis. The substance of his encyclical on the environment wasn’t particularly groundbreaking; that it was received with such surprised fanfare speaks to how little we expect from religious figures when they weigh in on science. The real takeaway is that there’s an obvious gap in global leadership. The Pope stepped into that role admirably, but it’s remarkable how much we now depend on a person who rose through the ranks of a conservative institution like the Catholic Church. Would it have been better if the same message came from someone like the Secretary-General of the U.N.? Maybe so, but it would have fallen on deaf ears. 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