It is highly advisable that the Greek crisis be approached by all concerned without undue emotionality -especially of the rabble-rousing kind. Anger and resentment by the average European citizen at the trickery of successive Greek governments is understandable, but this should not degenerate into an anti-Greek hysteria with racist overtones.

The vulgar tirades of Bild Zeitung are stocking the worst reflexes of the German populace. Meanwhile in Holland the xenophobic parties of the extreme right have seized eagerly on the Greek issue, even proposing it seems a referendum for the expulsion of the country from the Eurozone. This is an ethical and political unraveling much worse than the economic one brought about by Hellenic slovenliness. This means going down the cliff of bristling national egoisms, i.e. back to Europe's calamitous past, precisely the condition that the founders of the European community had in mind to heal.

Besides, any such development would hurt drastically in economic terms the very countries of the self-disciplined North currently smarting from the irresponsibility of the lax south. For the Protestant work-ethic of Teutonic Europe is by no means innocent of blame for the current financial instability and imbalance. The "republic of the holier-than-thou" must own up to its own share, rather than wallow in its own national narcissism and the facile bashing of the "ouzo drinkers" and Club Med beach bums. I am borrowing these terms form an admirable article in yesterday's German edition of the Financial Times by Peter Ehrlich, a writer whose name is in rare and exemplary harmony with the sobriety and open-mindedness of the opinions he puts forward.

Cheap credit to sub-prime states like Greece actually fueled a consumer boom which benefited German exporting firms -not to speak of massive contracts with the Kiel shipyards to sell warships to the Hellenic navy. Greece is a market dominated by German economic might. Barring currency devaluation Germany has for a decade now resorted to wage devaluation ("wage dumping") in order to boost its competitiveness abroad. But in this manner domestic demand has been stifled, making it impossible for other countries of the Euro area to sell in the German market while furthering the one-sided orientation of the German economy towards exports. About half of German products are sold in the European common market. The Euro experiment has been a shield around weaker economies even encouraging the corruption we have seen in Greece. But it has also been an immense boon to German industry. It would be completely mindless to call for the dismantlement of this arrangement in order to satisfy one's vindictiveness against a delinquent member, since this would immediately plunge the "virtuous" segment of the EU into a dizzying downward economic spiral as well.

A responsible German government trying to overcome the initial firestorm of opposition to a Greek bailout (not least from within the ruling coalition) can and should put forward this argument from sheer economic self-interest. The cost of saving Greece from its own foolishness would be infinitely smaller than the one incurred if the country is allowed to go to the dogs. The emotional satisfaction from the latter choice would evaporate fast anyway.

Luckily, it seems that Merkel -despite her harsh tones in Brussels last week- has reached precisely this conclusion, if Die Zeit is to be believed (and the paper is categorical in this assertion). And in this manner she validates the best traditions of the pro-European German elites under both Schmidt and Kohl, who were willing to sacrifice the narrow national pride of the Germans, even giving up the mighty Deutschmark, in order to realize the noble goal of a united Europe and a European Germany. But she is also right insisting that "there are rules that must be obeyed".

At this point in time everybody's best bet, the one that also minimizes the moral hazard everybody is concerned with, is applying the screws on the Greek establishment so that the deep-cutting restructuring measures are implemented. Greece can be forced to heal herself under a regime of supervision and control explained to the people as the necessary medicine in order to get rid of the toxic past. And, as I have written before, the people to their credit seem to understand this clearly enough. There is the distinct and realistic possibility of a self-sustaining "virtuous circle" arising in due time from all this.

There will be another noisy strike this coming Wednesday, but this also will be just an exercise in face saving by the corrupt trade union leadership. With respect to the government, the current prime minister is a very slow learner, but at least he does learn something in the end, if only because he has no choice. That he professes to be a "socialist" provides him with a smokescreen of ideological legitimacy to begin chopping off the heads of the vile public sector, the many-headed Hydra that his father created. Remember that it was Nixon who could afford to travel to communist China..... In our case it takes a "socialist" to attack the Potemkin village of a bogus "welfare state" under whose cover the most outrageous regime of social inequality, discrimination and exploitation was erected. The European leaders must see that it is in their own interest to support him in this enterprise, leaning hard on him of course but at the same time promising tangible support in no equivocal terms.