With a public and private debt at around 260% of GDP (Greek private debt is relatively low at an average of 110% compared to other old-EU countries), and a spread of 200 basis points, you have to pay a surcharge around 5% of your GDP compared to Germany.

I am reminded of this table from 2009 - it may have been Jerome to post it in an open thread. Anyway, here it goes:

Think about those numbers and the facts that 1) debt is used to prop up growth rates; 2) when the private sector retrenches, the public sector funds the shortfall with its deficit. Clearly no sensible monetary union can be built on constraining public debt but not private debt as long as the private sector enjoys an implicit guarantee from the public sector.

Economics is politics by other means