Greece has voted overwhelmingly against a compromise that would have allowed Europe to continue financing it. Now it must be forced out of the euro area and perhaps from the European Union — otherwise everybody will demand the same no-strings deals, and aspirants from Eastern Europe will want to join the bloc for all the wrong reasons.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras did his best to convince the Greek people that voting "No" to a fiscal plan proposed by the country's creditors would strengthen the government's hand in fresh negotiations. "Today we celebrate the victory of democracy," he tweeted after it became clear the vote had gone his way. "Tomorrow, we will all continue our national effort to reach an agreement."
As part of that effort, Tsipras even asked Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who had proved unable to establish rapport with the creditors, to resign. "Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for my ... 'absence' from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement," Varoufakis wrote on his blog.