Political or economic unions are certainly advantageous in many respects in an unstable world where big is beautiful. But for a proud people like the Greeks being ordered about by foreigners in Brussels, who’ve told them to keep tightening their belts, is an affront to their national sovereignty. National pride and a growing resistance to yet more austerity programs and privatization of state-owned assets were partly the reasons why the people voted for Syriza, a leftwing party that ran on an anti-austerity platform. Feeling badly let down by the old guard, they opted for new faces with fresh new ideas. Years of recession have taken their toll on the public psyche. They’ve paid a terrible price in lost jobs, lost homes, lost business and some were even driven to surrender their own children into state custody because they could no longer afford to feed them.
The new Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, a former Communist, who rose to prominence as a member of the student youth movement, has been a parliamentarian since 2009 but he could hardly have imagined that the day would come when public dissatisfaction would thrust him into the leadership role.
Just 40-years-old, he is bursting with enthusiasm and ideals, although he has had to bite the bullet in one respect; he was forced into forming a coalition with the rightwing Independent Greeks Party that’s been accused of holding anti-Semitic and xenophobic views. The one thing they have in common is their resentment against the imposed terms of the EU bailout.
Proof of his lingering Communist sympathies came shortly after his swearing into office when he chose to lay flowers at a National Resistance Memorial where more than 600 Communist fighters were executed by the Nazis during World War II. A small adoring crowd called out “Resistance is the path that nations must take” and “The German occupation is finally over.” However, railing against enforced austerity is one thing; maintaining the country’s economic equilibrium quite another when the IMF, the ECB and the EU are lining-up to crack the whip. Syriza is known to be opposed to many of the eurozone’s policies, but Tsipras is in no rush to head for the door. His first priority is to persuade the EU — in particular, France, Italy and Germany — to agree to writing-off a major part of Greece’s 320 billion euro debt and to reschedule payment of the balance.
So far, he is coming-up against a brick wall in the form of the German chancellor. He says he won’t wear a tie until his demands are met, which could mean he’ll be without one for some time to come. Chancellor Merkel insists that any deviation from the terms of the agreed 240 billion euro bailout program, which is up for renewal at the end of this month, will not be countenanced.
The new premier’s polite, moderate tone, however, is not being echoed by Greece’s new Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis, who says his country will no longer bargain with the EU/IMF/ECB troika on debt but intends to negotiate directly with the leaderships of EU member countries. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is not amused. “There is no arguing with us about this and, what’s more, we are difficult to blackmail,” he responded. In an open letter to Germany, posted on his party’s website, Tsipras appeals to the German people to understand his position. “The combination of gigantic new loans and stringent government spending cuts that depressed incomes not only failed to rein the debt in but, also, punished the weakest of citizens turning people who had hitherto been living a measured, modest life into paupers and beggars, denying them above all else their dignity.” He asks his readers to “let us Greeks some breathing space” explaining, “Our task is to bring about a European New Deal within which our people can breathe, create and live in dignity.”
His angst is evident. He’s a man of the people committed to freeing them from a heavy yoke that’s causing so much misery and depression. It’s easy to sympathize with his feelings that reflect those of the majority of Greeks who’ve simply had enough of reduced salaries, reduced pensions and an endless struggle to keep a roof over their heads. But EU finance ministers and Merkel holding sway over them aren’t in the business of emotion. Their handkerchiefs are for decorating jacket pockets not for wiping away tears.So, if Alexis Tsipras isn’t willing to toe the line, he risks the collapse of his country’s banking system when Greece will default on its debt and may ultimately be pushed out of the eurozone when national banks and the European Central Bank would face huge losses. There could also contagion resulting in a loss of market confidence impacting other vulnerable countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy.
In retrospect, Athens should never have adopted the single currency in the first place. I lived there for a few years prior to the changeover from Drachma to euro when the atmosphere was one of stability and overall prosperity. Getting out would be painful for all concerned. Greece and its creditors must decide whether the pain will ultimately be worth the gain.
