Meanwhile, by refusing to help Greece with its debt, not only did EU increased the debt, but inadvertently legitimized the right option, by saying there will be no debt canceling (which was left position at the time).
a) a country with a record of mismanagement and debt it cannot pay back
b) a set of countries that do not have a record of mismanagement and have the ability to help out a country that is in debt
If we take your metaphor we could say the choice is:
a) do not accept the terms and starve to death
b) cut off your arm and live with rules to live by to prevent the scenario from repeating
b) a set of banks who were willingly ignorant that they were lending to a state with a history of bankruptcy over many decades, because they believed/knew that when push came to shove the EU (taxpayers) would bail them out (which they did. You realise that the Greek "bailout" was a bailout of the EU banks that lent to the Greek state).
So the optimal option would've been to leave Greece to its own devices?
Contrary to that, the agreement with the EU was negotiated by multiple democratically elected governments and confirmed in a referendum.
They had a chance to make different choices and they still do. No one is taking their democratic rights away from them.
Excuse me? Syriza reneged on the referendum result! The people spoke, and Tsipras did the opposite!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Greek_bailout_referendum#...
That's not true. Military junta gives you option. Serve us or be punished. Prison or death.
EU negotiators gave Greece a choice too. Agree to our demands or we destroy your economy.
Thing is, that works for Greece, since the debt was small compared to EU budget. That won't work for Italy or Spain.
And if they get debt relief, when Greece didn't, there are going to be problems.
No. The destruction was done in decades of mismanagement by successive Greek governments.
But if you think that I agree with the bailout terms you are mistaken. Quite the contrary. I think there should have been debt relief so that Greece can make a new start.
But I reject the idea that installing a dictatorship is comparable to not granting someone debt relief or not extending new loans to them.