It seems this has been a battle heavily influenced by politics and philosophy, and very little by economic data. Greece was able to get into this position in the first place due to the same kind of decision-making. It was clear that Greece couldn't survive a EU recession, and from what I understand, they didn't meet the eurozone qualifications to begin with. The rationale at the time was that the EU powered by Germany's economic engine was good for Greece's exposure. This was an easy philosophy at the time, but it didn't make sense. When the bubble burst, it was just as easy to blame Greece's fiscal policies for their situation, and it made just as little sense. Greece was never a model for the eurozone, and pretending that it was before the recession was a fallacy, pretending that it was after the recession meant doubling down on the same fallacy. You can't resolve shared success and individual blame under the same currency.