Well, not just Greece or the East-European newbies have become indebted in the recent years: Italy, Spain, and Portugal also signed the bailout plan in Brussels to somehow initiate their recovery. The EU has become a safety zone and a seemingly endless treacle of financial aid for many economically unstable governments in Europe. Still, German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave in to signing the bailout only because even she could be persuaded: that letting the economic status quo collapse would only result in an even greater financial crisis, one that could even suck in Germany.
Spain's national economy grew 0.1% (!) this year, and Greece (currently suffocating in heavy protests throughout the country and Athens) approved its package of budget-cutting measures only because the country at least had to meet the terms for the huge bailout aid. The attitude of the aforementioned mediterranean countries, as well as the EU-newcomers: Bulgaria and Romania, could still be best described as "you pushed, I joined, where's the cash?".
Nobody seems to sense the wind of change. Perhaps only the Athenians, whose immediate debt is now prevented by the aid, and who may now wipe those tears, caused by pepper spray, off their face.
