The lenders presumed that Greek debt would always be acceptable to the ECB as collateral, and thus would always be worth face value. This analysis of ECB colla

The lenders presumed that Greek debt would always be acceptable to the ECB as collateral, and thus would always be worth face value. This analysis of ECB collateral policy proved correct. The blame, then, lays in the policies and signals of the ECB, which were transparently dictated by the political urgency of keeping Greece in the Euro. Had the Eurozone and the ECB adhered strictly to their budget rules, and penalized departures through ECB collateral policy, we'd be in a very different place. Of course, had those players had used proper accounting and figures, Greece would never have been qualified for the euro in the first place.