Paying what bills? They’ve never handed out any money, and they insisted on giving loans to countries that didn’t want them in the first place. And that’s aside from the game of beggar-thy-neighbor they were playing.
i'm no economist, but it seems to me that giving loans to countries that don't the means to repay them is the same as giving them the money to pay their bills, and it looks like Greece is begging for the loans not turning them down but like i said, i'm no economist
How, exactly is Germany playing beggar-thy-neighbor? Especially against Greece? Germans maintain export surpluses with Greece by furnishing superior value for the money, not by export subsidies. There are no restrictions on German tourism to Greece, or other transactions with Greece. German prosperity enriches Greece economically, and infuriates their wounded national pride.
Lending money to Greeks who had no serious intention or plans to repay was foolish of the Germans, and short sighted by the Greeks, but more the fault of the Greeks, who wanted to be treated like adults, than the Germans who made the mistake of taking them even half seriously.