Unity in Greece?

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Greek Leaders in Deal to Form New Government,” describes some cooperation at long last with the Europeans who are trying to save them from default.

The unity government will form after the current Prime Minister, George Papandreou, resigns on Monday. It will consist of a non-political leader until the next elections in February when Antonis Samaras, the head of the opposition New Democracy party, will run and most likely win.

Meanwhile, the Greek people still resent what they call the troika of foreign lenders: the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. And those lenders will be the motivating force behind a series of austerity measures designed to control the deficit and prevent the Greek foreign debt crisis from spreading into Italy.

Italy has a far greater debt situation and economy than Greece, and the European Commission will be unable to bail them out.

In any case, there seems to be some breathing room in the European debt crisis for now, though many predict Greece, and eventually Italy, will be faced with the same situation again down the road.

When that happens, Greece may eventually default and/or withdraw from the European Union.