A painful Greek lesson

The eurozone summit marks "the end of the Greek myth", considers Gazeta Wyborcza, noting that “European leaders decided to reform the euro zone so that markets would believe them, not rating agencies”. In its editorial, the Warsaw daily enthuses that “Europe starts working”, because “for the first time European leaders have decided to act in advance” and have come up with a plan that may finally put an end to the Greek sovereign debt crisis.

More important than the plan’s details, however, is the chance it creates for checking the spread of the “debt pestilence” that threatens other countries. The Greek crisis, notes Gazeta Wyborcza, comes as a painful lesson for Europe as a whole. “There are no miracles in economics. Who lives at others’ expense will have to tighten their belt sooner or later. And that’s never pleasant, even when the belt is around a fat belly”.