The strict austerity policy is not only crippling nations economies but it is preventing democratically elected governments from implementing the will of the voters. Of course, you can't wipe out a nation's responsibilities and obligations to others just by changing government, but at the same time ordinary working people see little hope for the future of their own countries if their votes, ideological votes for a better future result in nothing. The whole point of a country's democracy ceases, it becomes what us Brits used to call "a protectorate" - in other words, you are free to vote, but we'll tell you what to do.