Teaching a politician in Greece that you don’t bribe your way out of a fix is like trying to teach a fish to walk. You might as well not waste your time. When Greece heard that Finland was going to block the second Greek bailout, it went to work with a bribe. They would offer Finland “collateral” in return for their vote.

When other countries in the EU heard of this they reacted. Austria says if one country gets collateral, why not everybody?

That’s what Merkel has to work with. What used to be a Greek bailout, is now becoming a free-for-all. The 110 billion bailout deal worked out last month, the second Greek bailout, may come to naught if countries insist on acting like this.

Germany wants everything to be above board. But it’s dealing with a Europe that doesn’t operate by northern European, or German, standards. And if everybody doesn’t think alike they can’t have one currency.

The euro may be the casualty.