(AP photo)
By effectively cutting off Greek banks from easy money, Mario Draghi is forcing eurozone leaders to take responsibility and make some hard choices. It was about time.
"We know what we need to do. We just don't know how to get re-elected after we've done it." So once said Jean-Claude Juncker, currently the chairman of the European Commission. He astutely described the thin line politicians always walk between bold promises and unpalatable decisions.
Sometimes, politicians have to take unpopular yet necessary decisions that run counter to the promises they made to their electorates. As a result, their popularity drops, but problems do get solved - or so one hopes.
Sometimes, politicians stick to their promises even though they know that doing so could make matters worse. Re-election is then deemed more important.
And sometimes the opportunity presents itself to dump the choice on someone else's lap.
Enter Mario Draghi and his European Central Bank.
Politicians in many European capitals heaved a sigh of relief when Draghi announced that he would do "whatever it takes" to safeguard the euro. That took some heat out of the discussion about whether to continue austerity policies or start spending.
Now, however, it seems Draghi has decided he has stepped in enough to save the eurozone's political leaders. On Thursday, while Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was in the midst of a European goodwill tour to raise support for his plans to save Greece, Draghi pulled the plug on the ECB's credit facility to the country.
For several years, Greek banks have been able to sell certain bonds to the ECB, no matter what the bonds' credit rating, and receive money in return. Athens was cut out of that program on Thursday, immediately putting Greece into an even more difficult position.
Commentators and pundits opine that Draghi is playing politics; that he is putting Varoufakis under direct pressure. Yet Draghi has done no such thing. On the contrary, he has put responsibility back where it belongs: with the leaders of eurozone nations and the international institutions to whom Greece is so deeply indebted.
Now the pressure is on the elected politicians, especially those of northern Europe. These leaders must decide whether they will cut Greek debt - a highly unpopular move, as they promised their voters that Greece would pay back every last cent lent to them - or effectively push Greece into default. That wouldn't solve anything, but would allow the decision-makers to look tough in the eyes of their electorate.
The ball is in the politicians' court, and they need to pick it up quickly.
