Greece’s defeat and a lesson for Britain

FOr bankers and Europe’s elite, it was a day of immense relief. For the people of Greece – and the democracy they gave the world – it was a crushing defeat.

indeed, barely a week after they voted by a thumping majority to reject the terms of a bailout offer, their hard-Left prime minister has settled for a package that looks even worse.

how long this latest deal will last (if it clears tomorrow’s first hurdle in the Athens parliament) is anyone’s guess.

What is certain is that, for weeks, we’ve seen the built-in flaws in the single currency at their most stark, throttling hopes of growth and tearing apart the peoples it was supposed to unite.

As incompetent negotiators (on both sides) bickered night after night, the damage spread far beyond the eurozone, shaking business confidence worldwide.

Meanwhile, one thing has been proved beyond doubt: weaker countries can have democracy or the euro – but not both.

For Greece, the upshot is humiliation. With a German gun at his head, Alexis tsipras has accepted austerity measures he was elected to oppose.

he has even been bullied into handing over assets for sale under international supervision (though whether he can find ¤50billion worth, without selling the Parthenon, is another matter).

there’s a lesson for the UK too. true, short of yielding to foreign troops, a country that gives up control of its currency makes the greatest possible surrender. But the fact is that any sacrifice of sovereignty limits a nation’s freedom to defend its own interests. Since we joined what was then known as the Common Market in 1972, Britain has handed over a huge range of powers to the dysfunctional Brussels family, from the right to sign trade agreements to deciding who may settle here. On May 7, David Cameron won a resounding mandate to demand the return of such powers. With the EU’s failings growing plainer by the day, his mission is more vital than ever.