Greek crisis: was the euro always a bad idea, a cause of Europe’s woes? | Will Hutton and Heather Stewart

A 'misconceived failure' from the start" or a true 'public good': our experts put the single currency in the dock

Greece may yet escape the humiliation of defaulting on its debts and being forced out of the single currency. Yet the terrible suffering of its people over the past five years shows that the single currency is a fundamentally misconceived project. It is extraordinary that an economic catastrophe on the scale of the Great Depression has been visited on a country in 21st-century Europe, not because of the neglect of the policymaking elite but under their direct supervision - and indeed under the guise of a "bailout".

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