OPINION

A true leader

Thursday’s official visit to Athens by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker served as a reminder of those critical few weeks in the summer of 2015 that nearly spelled Greece’s demise.

The Commission chief played a pivotal role in the events that transpired that summer, as he and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos helped avert a complete catastrophe for the country after the disastrous referendum.

Greece owes a debt of gratitude to this true European leader, as it does to the former presidents of France and the United States, Francois Hollande and Barack Obama respectively, for the important part they also played in saving the country from a eurozone exit.

That we are still a member of the common currency bloc may be something that we take for granted, but it wasn’t at all a foregone conclusion back then.

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