The creditors vs Tsiparas’s Government
When we talk about the Greek crisis we sometimes forget the country is currently undergoing its second bailout. Each instalment shall be released only if Greece sticks to the already negotiated agreement. However, the Government of Tsipras does not follow the rules. What would any normal person do if the terms of an agreement are not respected? Eventually, they will stop the negotiations and leave Tsipras deal with the situation on his own. Thanks to political will, greater solidarity and understanding towards the Greek people, however, Europe and its creditors continued negotiations (up until this text was being produced).
And what was the answer of Tsipras…
Rather than continuing negotiations, he announced a referendum that will take place after the 30th of June (when the second bail-out package will have been completed and the deadline for repayment of the loan to the International Monetary Fund would have passed). For several months Tsipras has been talking of scheduling a referendum. Why did he not do it earlier, having considered that there was no mandate from the people to negotiate with creditors? Instead of accepting or continuing with the negotiations on the specific proposal, he decided at the last minute that he should continue to blackmail Europe.
The Referendum
Will Tsipras dare to ask the question “Do you want Greece to remain in the Eurozone?”. If the question is formulated in this way, the Greek people will probably decide to stay in. It seems, however, that the question would be “Do you support the proposal of the creditors?”, which Tsipras himself already opposed. In practice, posing the question like that also means “Do you want to stay in the Eurozone or not?”, but how many Greeks would understand this trick of his?
Tsipras’ Game
It truly is offensive to the entire Greek people and Europe to be subjected to such risky games by a populist who with this decision only aims to increase his popularity. Just seven months after having implemented structural reforms, Greece was on the road to growth and projections were that GDP will increase at the rate of 2.6%. However, all reforms have been stalled for months, state institutions are not properly functioning, and the forecasts for growth are grim. Tsipras does not realize that he brought the Greek people to a deadlock and is likely that within days the whole country will be in a much more difficult, chaotic and uncontrolled situation than it has ever been.
Why some follow the rules and others not?
In Taverna #Grexit the bill that Germany may have to pay is estimated at 87 billion Euro. Don’t you agree that European taxpayers’ money could be invested in much more meaningful endeavours in stable countries such as Bulgaria, which comply with the Maastricht criteria and defend the values of Europe?
Europe and the creditors have been in solidarity with the Greek people for years, and it is sad to see that the Greek government shows solidarity only in its attempt to stay in power.
This may be the end of the Greek drama for Europe, but the beginning of the Greek drama for the Greeks themselves