Well, the Greeks had a grand old time borrowing against the Euro when people were still willing to lend to them. When the piper came due, they couldn't raise i

Well, the Greeks had a grand old time borrowing against the Euro when people were still willing to lend to them. When the piper came due, they couldn't raise interest rates or devalue their own currency to deal with the situation. Point is, it's not a colony situation. For a while, Greeks loved the fact they could borrow against the EU with low interest rates, much lower than their own financial situation would indicate. Once people started wanting their money back, yes, this limited their options. They probably shouldn't have put their own economy into that situation though, that's why the drachma used to fluctuate up and down so much and the interest rate was high, because they weren't really good for the money they borrowed.