opinion | The geopolitical case for Greece

As the Greek debt crisis reaches its peak, headlines from around Europe and the world scream for the swift departure of Greece from the European Union. Whispers of a breakup have even been heard in the German Bundestag, where it was once an inconsiderable option.

There is undoubtedly a strong case for a Greek Exit. Greece currently owes €1.5bn in loans to the International Monetary Fund by the end of June, with an additional €3.5bn due to the European Central Bank in July. With default on the horizon, the country remains in financial limbo; bank runs and capital controls are now considered realities to plan for rather than purely academic exercises.

While the markets have held mostly steady, analysts believe most of it is attributed to confidence in an 11th hour deal, (which ironically reduces the impetus to act). But if Grexit really became reality the EU would not come crashing down overnight, and the world will not be plunged into a crisis. The financial repercussions are unlikely to reverberate beyond Brussels. Some are even hoping (perhaps naïvely) that a Grexit is the crisis to end all crises, that once Greece leaves, stability in the Eurozone will be restored and it will never face another squabble among its members.

But the decision must not be made solely on cost.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, the decision for keeping Greece inside the Eurozone should not be viewed as a purely economic decision, but as a geopolitical one.

The most immediate and obvious cost of a Grexit is the instability it would create both in Greece and abroad. The European Union would suffer a devastating loss of face and its first true existential crisis—never before in the history of the European Union has a country actually left. Confidence in the currency union would be undermined, and some pundits fear this could trigger a mass exodus; with Greece out, Britain's case for leaving the EU would inevitably be strengthened.

More worrying is the gaping hole it would create in the EU's influence on the Mediterranean. With Syria tearing itself to shreds, continued unrest in Egypt, and the looming Middle Eastern crisis, Greece is contemplating an exit from the EU at a time when its regional influence is needed more than ever.

Cutting Greece adrift would give other countries the chance to expand their spheres of influence—at the expense of the west. Russia has already made overtures to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, and it would not be beyond the Russians to extend financial support should Greece find itself free of the EU. Such generosity would give these countries an unprecedented platform to promote themselves as the world's bank—with no strings attached, unlike their western neighbors.

The European Experiment remains a fascinating one. Never before have so many diverse countries, with so many languages, with different, often bloody histories, worked so closely together in creating a single, unified power. The bloc is a true example of "united states," more so than the country that holds the name. It may be bureaucratic, over-legislated, and slow-moving. It may have to put up with one or two bad actors in the system. But every collection, every assortment, inevitably has bad actors and those who wish to take advantage. Coping with the bad is a small price to pay for the overall good. Europe should not casually toss aside what it has worked so hard to build.