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So scheitert Europa

Außer ihrer Würde haben die Griechen nichts mehr zu verlieren

von Kostas Vaxevanis

Mein Vater geht auf die 90 zu. Er hat einen Weltkrieg, einen Bürgerkrieg und zwei Diktaturen erlebt. Mehr als 60 Jahre hat er auf dem Bau geschuftet, er hat drei Kindern das Studium ermöglicht. Vor Kurzem wäre er fast gestorben, als er in ein Krankenhaus gebracht wurde und mit Hunderten anderer Patienten, die ebenfalls auf ihre Behandlung warteten, Schlange stehen musste.

Seine Familie kämpfte gegen die Nazi-Invasoren. In der Nachkriegszeit wurde Griechenland von Nazi-Kollaborateuren regiert, obwohl nicht sie, sondern andere das Land befreit hatten. Die beschworene »kommunistische Gefahr« machte aus den einstigen Kollaborateuren auf einmal die wärmsten Befürworter der Demokratie. Sie rafften die für den Wiederaufbau bestimmten Gelder aus dem Marshallplan an sich und plünderten am Ende auch noch den Strukturfonds der Euro päi schen Union.

Ich habe meinen Vater nie Sirtaki tanzen sehen oder stundenlang am Strand singen hören, nie konsumierte er mehr, als er produzierte – er widersprach den Stereotypen, die sogar Spitzenpolitiker des Auslands verbreiten. Im Gesicht meines Vaters erkenne ich gleichwohl einen Alexis Sorbas. Nicht den unbekümmerten Hallodri, sondern einen, der seine Würde und den griechischen Geist des filotimo bewahrt – ein Wort, das es in anderen Sprachen nicht gibt und das so etwas wie Ehrbewusstsein bedeutet.

Mein Vater trug Ausländern nie etwas nach. Weder den Deutschen, die Griechenland überfallen, noch den Amerikanern, die dem Land ihren Willen aufgezwungen hatten, nicht einmal Griechenlands Erbfeinden, den Türken. Wenn mein Vater im Sommer zufällig neben einem Fremden sitzt, fühlt er sich verpflichtet, ihn zu einem Getränk einzuladen, weil der Reisende Griechenland durch seinen Besuch eine Ehre erwiesen hat.

Seit fünf Jahren ruft mein Vater fast jeden Tag an und fragt mich, was aus unserem Land werden soll. Wenn Griechenland zusammenbricht, wenn seine Enkel zu Dienern werden, wenn wir einen dritten Weltkrieg erleben. Es geht ihm genauso wie seinen Landsleuten: Wie alle anderen Griechen erwartet er den Tag der Abrechnung, eine Katastrophe und zugleich ein gnädiges Ende der quälenden Situation, die das Land durchlebt.

Jahrzehnte nach der Gründung des vereinten Europa wird der Süden des Kontinents von Angst und Armut heimgesucht.

Der Union gelingt es nicht, den von ihr gepriesenen Idealen Leben einzuhauchen, Solidarität zu beweisen und die Probleme nach dem Gleichheitsgrundsatz zu lösen. Stattdessen füllt sie wie ein mittelmäßiger Buchhalter ein Kontorbuch mit Einträgen, die das Leben von Menschen beschreiben sollen.

Europas Krise wurde durch die Entscheidung der Regierungen ausgelöst, die Schulden des Bankensektors in Staatsschulden umzuwandeln. Obwohl die Regeln des Marktsystems vorschreiben, dass gescheiterte Unternehmen den Betrieb einstellen müssen, wurde uns ein weiteres Stereotyp serviert, nämlich, die Banken seien »zu groß, um unterzugehen«. Es liegt an diesen Stereotypen, dass Europa nicht aus seiner Dauerkrise herausfindet, denn es muss für die Fehler, die Arroganz und die Gier der Banken zahlen.

Griechenland ist außerstande, seine Schulden zurückzuzahlen, wie auch immer sie entstanden sein mögen. Durch eine Bestrafung Griechenlands würde das ökonomische Gleichgewicht auch nicht wiederhergestellt. Die griechische Wirtschaft liegt am Boden; die von den Europäern auferlegte Sparpolitik hat das Land in die Depression geführt. Doch anstatt die falsche Medizin abzusetzen, wird sie immer weiter verordnet. Mit ihrem ständigen Gerede von einem möglichen »Grexit« haben Schäuble und Dijsselbloem ein Klima der Unsicherheit geschaffen und damit auch diejenigen abgeschreckt, die fähig und willens gewesen wären, in Griechenland zu investieren.

Griechenlands Austritt aus der Europäischen Union würde einen unheilvollen Domino effekt auslösen. Als 2008 eine Bank in den USA zusammenbrach, riss sie die Weltwirtschaft mit sich. Man stelle sich vor, was beim Zusammenbruch eines ganzen Landes geschehen würde.

Über Griechenland zieht ein neuer Tag herauf: einer, an dem seine Menschen verzweifelt sind. Das griechische Volk hat nichts mehr zu verlieren außer seinem Grundprinzip, das meinem Vater so viel bedeutet: seiner Würde.

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