Monday was groundhog day in the eurozone. A year after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund unveiled a €110bn rescue package for Greece, the country is again at the top of the crisis agenda. The bail-out has not eased Greece’s economic problems while exacerbating its indebtedness problem; the country’s re-entry to the debt markets as a sovereign borrower early next year, envisaged in the bail-out plan, looks impossible. The eurozone had a choice at an emergency weekend meeting. It could expand the bail-out or allow Athens to restructure. It chose the first option. The second cannot be avoided for much longer.
週一是歐元區的「土撥鼠日」（groundhog day，北美習俗，根據當日土撥鼠的表現預測春天是否提前到來——譯者注）。在歐盟(EU)與國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)公佈1100億歐元希臘救助計劃的一年之後，希臘再次成爲首要危機議題。紓困行動未能緩解希臘的經濟困境，同時加劇了其債務問題；紓困計劃中的設想——希臘將在明年初重新以主權債務人的身份進入債券市場——似乎已不可能實現。歐元區在週末的緊急會議中做出了選擇。要麼爲紓困計劃延期，要麼允許希臘進行債務重組。它選擇了前者。但用不了多久，後一種解決便不可避免。