As a European, I am just a detached observer of Asian affairs. But when it comes to the destiny of the European Union, I feel I am personally involved. Although this is a blog about Asia, I cannot ignore what is happening in Europe, and I want to write a few words about it. On the statement he published this morning on his own blog , Greece's former Minister of Finance, Jiannis Varoufakis , explained that what the Greek government wants is simply: an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms They are not asking for their debt to be written off, as some media has argued; they just want their debt to be sustainable. As Varoufakis said in one interview (as I can speak Greek, I am following the actual debates in Greece), he thinks that the austerity policies of the troika are not viable for Greece , because they hinder growth and create a situation of instability that makes the recovery of Greece imp