The question of whether Greece can – and indeed, should – be kicked out of the euro has come to the fore with a vengeance ever since the Greek socialist Prime Minister, Georges Papandreou, who has since agreed to step down, announced that he would call a referendum on the latest bailout agreed with the EU.

...we are not bystanders in all this. We can be directly affected- Simon Busuttil

The bailout consists of billions of euros in financial support in exchange for a Greek commitment to take concrete measures to get its financial house in order. The measures were concrete and tough indeed. They were arguably the toughest austerity plan ever drawn up – ranging from massive job cuts in the public sector to huge hikes in taxes and deep cuts in pensions. It is these measures that have drawn the Greeks to the streets for weeks on end.

The quid-pro-quo was clear.

Europe would help Greece financially as long as Greece did its part to get its house in order. This was, in essence, what the bailout meant. And it was not the first bailout. We have been helping Greece since the beginning of last year.

Now the idea of calling a referendum to ask the Greek people to endorse this bailout-cum-austerity plan may have sounded brave. After all, what can be more democratic than asking the people to take the decision themselves?

But it was plain stupid. For turkeys, as they say, do not vote for Christmas. No innuendo intended.

The referendum announcement has since been withdrawn and, as I write, Mr Papandreou’s own fate seems to have been sealed. Just as well.

The withdrawal came after Mr Papandreou was told in no uncertain terms that Greece would not get “one single cent” until it decided what it wanted. And while they are at it, they were told, they can also leave the euro.

So the question came to the fore: Can Greece be kicked out of the eurozone?

The legal answer to that question is a clear no.

The EU Treaty makes provision for how a country can adopt the euro currency. But it does not say how a country can leave the eurozone. This means that for Greece to be kicked out, the Treaty would need to be changed and Greece holds a veto on any such changes. So that is not an option.

On the other hand, the story would be different if the Greeks themselves chose to leave the euro. They would be able to negotiate a withdrawal with their EU partners that would, understandably, be relieved to see the back of the Greek problems.

But, of course, a large majority of Greeks does not want to leave the comfort zone of the euro – even in these most painful of times.

A third legal option would be for Greece to withdraw from the EU altogether.

This is now possible under article 50 of the Treaty, which provides for the possibility of a member state to leave the Union. But Greece is not the UK and unilateral withdrawal from the EU is not on its mind. They want to stay in.

But there are other reasons why kicking Greece out of the euro would be problematic and unadvisable. Not just for them, but for the rest of us too.

First of all, it could cause additional financial and economic woes for the entire Union for it would almost certainly be the result of a Greek bankruptcy that would hit hard many European banks, mostly in Germany and France. They would not just face “haircuts” (reductions) on their Greek loans but lose the whole lot.

The consequences would be hard on the European economy and affect jobs, including in Malta. For let us not forget that our economy relies heavily on the European market and a crisis in the European market may cost your job in Malta.

So we are not bystanders in all this. We can be directly affected. The fact that we have not been so far owes much to the economic leadership of the incumbent government.

Secondly, the political ramifications would be catastrophic for a Union that is used to countries queuing to join it and not to leave it. A withdrawal of Greece – a symbol for European democracy and civilisation – would go against the grain of European integration.

And, worse, it risks spreading a contagion that would see markets force the same or a similar situation on other countries, starting with Italy. Now if Italy or, say, Spain, had to be forced out of the eurozone – which is unthinkable – then the whole thing could easily collapse like a house of cards.

There is too much at stake for everyone to let that happen.

Finally, there are the social consequences.

We have seen Greeks protesting in the streets. But if Greece goes back to its old drachma, the value of their new currency would almost certainly plummet against the euro and their debts would remain denominated in our currency. This would have even harsher social consequences for the entire Greek population, which would see its standard of living rolling back by decades.

So this is not the time for referendums. This is the time for getting things done.

simon.busuttil@europarl.europa.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.