Get ready to wipe Athens’ slate clean

“Greek tragedy without a final act,” headlines Die Presse. With nerves in the euro zone on edge, some reputable media are seriously suggesting that Greece may go back to the drachma, while the rating agency Standard & Poor’s has lowered the sovereign debt rating of the country further into junk territory. And now the Vienna daily is wondering: “Is Greece leaving the single currency? No. In truth, something else is on the horizon. After a year of stubborn denial, European governments are going to have to admit that the Greek nightmare can end only if some of Athens’ debt, which amounts to 150 percent of its GDP, is forgiven” – and that by the summer of 2013, notes Die Presse. A simple expropriation of investors being virtually impossible, Europe is likely to adopt the model used to handle the South American crisis of the 1990s: exchanging Greek securities for European Financial Stability Facility securities. The only catch: this solution requires unanimity among the 27 member states, and notably a yes from Angela Merkel.