Greece’s government seems determined to incur the world’s blame for the emergent economic turmoil in Europe. Mark Gilbert summed it up accurately for Bloomberg View: “The nation’s stubborn contradictory stance — yes to the euro, no to the conditions of continued membership — isn’t consistent with the euro’s future well-being.”

But it isn’t just the Greeks who have incompatible goals in this affair. Leaders of the other countries in the euro area have contradictory desires as well, and their failure to choose among them has contributed to the mess.

Germany, especially, wants to minimize inflation, bailouts and the risk of an exodus from the currency union. These three goals are in great tension with one another. If they can be reconciled at all, it would require a degree of fiscal centralization that looks politically impossible.

The euro was always intended as a political project at least as much as an economic one. It was a step toward the unification of European nations more than a way of reducing transaction costs between them. Some prominent economists, such as Milton Friedman, warned against adopting it. Over the past few years, its inherent flaws have become painfully manifest. But European leaders have been willing to impose immense economic pain to keep it going.

Copyright 2015 BloombergView

Read the article “ANALYSIS: Why the Euro is Failing” on bloombergview.com.