The cost of spectator sports

摘要

The script looks very familiar, espe-cially in southern Europe. A party takes power and reports, on examining the state coffers, that they are in an even worse condition than anybody imagined. Wringing their hands in shock, the new masters say they will fix the damage as fast as they can. This was an easy drama to present as long as the players, and the audience, were mostly domestic. But in the era of the euro zone, when the show is watched in Brussels too, the spectators are more demanding, and they can do more than say boo.