But even if the case is straightforward in economic terms, it also is politically complicated.
Primarily because of decisions made in the earlier bailout programs for Greece, the bulk of the country's debt is now owed to other European countries and their official institutions. Accordingly, the debt relief decision only can result from a political process that involves national parliaments, including those of Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, which tend to be averse to any softening of the terms on past loans.
Many had thought that the refugee crisis would make easier the political approval of this economically necessary, though difficult decision. After all, Greece has been in the forefront of the crisis, hosting -- under extremely difficult conditions -- hundreds of thousands of refugees who are looking to settle elsewhere on the continent.
But this window has proven hard to exploit given the deep divisions within the EU that have been exposed by the crisis. Moreover, as the leader on this and many other European issues, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, is finding that her courageous approach to the refugee crisis now faces growing internal opposition.
WikiLeaks's publication of the transcript of internal deliberations at the IMF, an important provider of funds and technical assistance to Greece, makes the politics even more complicated. The document details the thinking of fund technocrats as they attempt to predict how the complex EU politics of the next few months could affect a strategy to obtain the debt forgiveness for Greece that they have long regarded as necessary and are now suggesting could be a prerequisite for further aid.
It turns out that the start of the summer could be an even more challenging period for both the EU and the euro zone. By then, Greece could be running out of money to run its economy and meet debt service payments. The U.K. will vote on whether it should remain in the EU. And Europe is likely to have found out, the difficult way, that the recent regional agreement on refugee flows is hard to implement.
Europe should be taking actions now to avoid a potential confluence of problems this summer that, badly managed, would not just seriously test the region's resolve and problem-solving capabilities, but also its political credibility. In this context, the seemingly hard decision on Greek debt forgiveness takes on a pragmatic necessity that reinforces its economic justification.
It is the one decision that is in the hands of European governments and parliaments that, though they are challenged by anti-establishment nationalistic movements, are still dominated by those who believe in the historic project of an ever-closer European union.
Mohamed El-Erian is chief economic advisor at Allianz SE.