Greeks, what will you vote?

[Asriel]

My heart goes out to the Greek people.

They're being made to pay for the mistakes of their past political class, and of the self-centered, short-sighted European politicians who signed economies up to the single currency long before they were ready. Instead of admitting that the last seven years have revealed serious faults with the fundamental organisation of the Eurozone--in which wildly different economies subscribe to the same currency under the same systems--they are punishing generations of Greek citizens for the mistakes of the past European and Greek political classes.

The European Union is meant to stand for prosperity, democracy and social stability, yet its actions, along with that of the IMF, contradict its basic aims. By blackmailing successive Greek governments into submission (see George Papandreou's government which collapsed in 2011) and subscribing to austerity measures that are basically anti-growth and lopsided in favour of banks (particularly French and German banks), the EU are acting against people and in favour of profit. They are attempting to protect the financial sector which caused the global collapse while trying to preserve the fragile monetary union that was badly thought out and poorly implemented.

If Greece goes, the next question isn't a case of if another crack appears in the Eurozone, it's a question of when, and that's what the EU are terrified of. So terrified they're willing to doom millions of Greek/European citizens to years or decades of lost growth, lost opportunity, and social instability. I'm a pro-European Brit, but seeing the high-handed, anti-democratic and single-minded decision making at the heart of the EU's approach to the Greek crisis has made me re-consider whether I'd vote to stay in the EU.

As for the Greek people being given a referendum on this matter, it's the right thing to do, even if it is politically convenient for the Greek government. Ultimately they were elected on a mandate that rejected further austerity measures, and are now being asked to implement more austerity by the IMF and EU. The implementation of austerity contradicts the basis on which the Greek government was elected; they simply don't have a popular mandate to make that decision so it's right to turn things over to the electorate and ask for the populace to confirm the anti-austerity mandate of the current government, or to accept the austerity measures demanded by Greece's creditors.

Ultimately I just wish the best for and to the Greek people. Despite the lack of sympathy across much of the media, not every European citizen feels that way, and I think many more of us will seriously question the European Union if it continues to fail the Greek people.