Opinion: Biggest threat to the euro? The clowns who run Greece

Published: Mar 18, 2015 3:01 a.m. ET

MATTHEW LYNN

Greece may leave the euro by accident, thanks to incompetence of the clowns who rule it

Marketwatch: Syriza’s Amateur Hour Is The Biggest Threat To The Euro:

A finance minister who poses for spreads in Paris Match, while he is not blogging or tweeting. A prime minister who angrily demands reparations for Nazi crimes, and taunts the Germans for their past. The double act of the two men in charge of the Greek economy, Yanis Varoufakis and Alexis Tsipras, has been keeping the world’s media entertained. Anyone who follows them on Twitter will have enjoyed the controversy they stir up.

But, amusing as they might be, you wouldn’t want them to hold the stability of the global financial system in their hands. Unfortunately, that is what is happening. There are signs that the eurozone economy is starting to recover, and the launch of quantitative easing by the European Central Bank will give that some added momentum.

The big problem remains Greece.

It is constantly at risk because of the amateurishness of the Greek government. None of its senior figures have any experience in administration, or indeed have ever held any kind of serious job. It is starting to show. A “Grexident,” as the financial pundits have started to dub the possibility of the country sliding out of the euro by mistake, is getting more and more likely. And yet that would have unknowable consequences for the stability of the global financial system.

No one can complain that Tsipras and Varoufakis are not good entertainment. By the standards of finance ministers, Varoufakis is witty, engaging, and has a laser-like ability to get to the point straight away. With his leather jacket, it is hardly surprising that he has been dubbed a “rock star.”

The trouble is, he is starting to act like one.

He allowed Paris Match to photograph him with his elegant blonde wife for a long feature. He appeared on the cover of the Greek edition of Esquire. He has 345,000 followers on Twitter, where he pugnaciously engages with his critics (for comparison, the British Chancellor, George Osborne, arguably a more important figure, has only 100,000). This week, he has been embroiled in a controversy over an old YouTube video, in which he seems to be giving Germany the finger.

The German popular papers are having a field day — as they have every right to.

Tsipras is hardly much better. In an inflammatory speech earlier this month, he accused Germany of never properly paying reparations for World War Two, and using tricks to wriggle out of paying for damage inflicted on the country by the Nazis. It was a childish outburst. Most European countries have spent a lot of the last 2,000 years at war with one another about one thing or the other.

If they wanted to, just about every national leader could demand payments from dozens of others for some historical grievance. None of it contributes to a constructive solution.