Business Spectator

The New Zealand Super Fund’s battle with Portugal is the first major clash in the two countries’ history. Fortunately, we do not have to expect any kind of retaliation, nor will the two sole frigates in the Royal New Zealand Navy set sail for Lisbon anytime soon.

Europe is well past the stage at which it needs constructive ambiguity. It needs actions. It needs decisions. And it needs them now, not in four months’ time. Please, can we finally see the last act in this Greek drama?

Tsipras and Varoufakis may not realise it but their gamble with Europe has the potential of backfiring on them and their country. Their actions could even make even the most plausible alternative scenarios to staying within the eurozone look unappealing.

For Varoufakis and Schäuble, there really is little hope of finding any common ground. They are personally too different to bridge the gap between their upbringings and beliefs. If they do not even agree to disagree, that is probably the best anyone can hope for.

Indeed, had they agreed to disagree, it is only likely they would have misunderstood each other.

Barely sworn in, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ new cabinet went straight to work trying to turn their country upside down — and the European Union with it. By fighting austerity and pushing for debt relief, they are attempting to lead Greece out of its five-year long depression and solve its economic woes. Unfortunately, the Tsipras government is fighting the wrong crisis.

The most important question of what the Greek election result will mean for the euro crisis has not been answered satisfactorily. There is no easy answer to this question, only a range of different scenarios. As of today, it is hard, if not impossible, to put probabilities to them.

Europe’s central bank has manoeuvred itself into a hole and the introduction of quantitative easing shows that it won’t stop digging. At least the Swiss National Bank got out before being dragged down any further.

By demonising ‘deflation’ (even if it is really just price stability by another name), the ECB underlines its commitment to helping the eurozone’s debtors, whether they are financial institutions or governments. The response to this so-called deflation threat will be to maintain interest rates negative or even embark on a program of quantitative easing, which may be announced over the coming days. In effect, however, such policies are just bailout programs by stealth.