While I can still be persuaded that Scotland should remain a member of the European Union after the inevitable independence in 10-15 years tile, I am more and more leaning toward us staying out of the organisation altogether.

The final act in the drama over Greece, as it touches on its relations with the Euro-zone and the wider European Union, is playing out. It is an act which is defined by the utter destruction of any idea of European solidarity and cohesion. From a wider perspective, we’re seeing the torpedoing of a pan-European dream.

It is, for instance, now inconceivable that NATOs article 5 has any further relevance in European affairs. After the Baltic states and Portugal have acted like the smaller boy in the school yard who outwardly displays extra cruelty and belligerence in order to impress the larger bullies, no Greek is going to go and die to defend Estonia or Lithuania or Poland against Vladimir Putin.

A Greece which has been eviscerated economically by the Euro-zone is not suddenly going to start to behave deferentially or loyally in the wider union. If German, Finnish, or Dutch national interest is more important than union cohesion, then so is Greek. Greece can, as an EU member, veto quite a lot of things which is of vital importance to the whole of the union.

Greece forced out of the Euro-zone is the first crack in the wider union, and the inevitable speculative drive against the weaker European members like Ireland and Portugal will further shatter the union cohesion. Guardian journalist Alex Andreou wrote in an insightful piece today that in 20 years time, Greece will be thriving, but the EU might not.

There is no doubt in my mind that in twenty years Greece will still exist and most likely be thriving. I do not say this because of glories of the past and ”cradle of democracy” arguments. I abhor romanticised nationalism. All that is in our distant past. I look instead at our present. I look at the solidarity grassroots movements, which have sprung up to provide medical care for people who can no longer afford it or shelter for the thousands of Syrian refugees coming through our borders. I look at the cooperative factories and restaurants which have been born to provide people with jobs. I look at how families have pulled together and at how relatively firm the fabric of our society has held in the face of five years of onslaught. These achievements are why I am hopeful about the future – not ancient history.

This is the cusp time for the European union, and the immaturity and incompetence of the present union leadership, led by Angela Merkel, is finally going to unravel the thing. That makes the United Kingdom’s decision to hold a referendum in 2017 about continued membership extra important for Scotland. And if I’m really honest with myself, I am becoming more and more confirmed as a probable Brexit voter.

This is for very leftist reasons that has all to do with democracy and the role of small nations within the fracturing union. We know that Ireland was bullied into austerity by the EU when it threatened to pull the plug on its banks. That happened behind closed doors, and never became a big dispute. Now the EU have done it again with Greece, with the difference that this time the bullying and ultimatums and the threats are done in the open.

Large countries are interfering in the democracy of small countries, and try to, through their sheer weight, suspend the sovereign will of the people of those small nations. Would that not happen to an independent Scotland too?

Our situation is not that of Greece. It is not even remotely like Greece. Unlike Greece, our economy is defined by making things. Whiskey, oil, fish, foods, manufacturing. We sell to the world, and we’re paid. Greece is a service economy almost entirely dependent on tourism.

It may be that because we, unlike Greece, are vulnerable to disruptions in our markets, that there is an economic case for staying in. This is the area where I can be persuaded. Maybe pulling out is too large a destructive act to actually do.

But there comes a point when you decide to endure pain in the short term in order to have a better life later. To fight cancer, even if the cancer at the time doesn’t affect the victim much, one can go on a chemo therapy which will make the patient very sick. But after, the patient will live a long life, hopefully. This is a situation where staying the course with EU membership could be more dangerous than going into economic chemo therapy as regards membership of the EU.

We already see how the EU treats its small members. Sometimes, it is better to tell the people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing that some values are too important to sacrifice. Democracy is such a value. And continued membership of the European Union may be a cancer on Scottish democracy which require the treatment of leaving it before that cancer kills democracy here too.

Just like with the conclusion many Scottish Greens such as I reached about the United Kingdom, that it is unreformable and actually goes in the wrong direction, one can realise that the European Union is not going to move to a more democratic, more open, more socially just society. And if that’s true, then the logic of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom because our political paths are diverging from the rest of the union applies to the European union too. That’s why I’m leaning toward Brexit.