Opposition parties likely to help out on necessary reforms to secure bailout money
ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras capitulated in Brussels to keep his country part of the euro. He returned home hours later yesterday to find a nation split apart with the difficult task ahead of uniting lawmakers behind a deal they once denounced.
After a marathon, 17-hour summit that turned into one of the most contentious diplomatic standoffs in European Union history, Tsipras acquiesced to a punishing ultimatum from European leaders.
In exchange for a 86 billion euro rescue — Greece’s third in five years — he agreed to lightning-fast passage of reforms starting tomorrow, and an assertion to adopt strong fiscal measures to save the nation’s banks and stay with the euro.
He agreed to far more than just austerity, pledging even to stage what may amount to a fire sale of Greek utilities, even plots of land on its islands, to help pay back its debt.
Upon returning, Tsipras went straight to his Athens office and into a meeting with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos.
For a man once seen as a leftist maverick who had pledged to free Greece from the shackles of financial injustice, his decision to surrender to European demands immediately sparked an insurrection within his unlikely ruling coalition of the far-left and the far-right.
The one thing his allies had in common was a joint enemy — Greece’s creditor nations in Europe. And now Tsipras must push several unpalatable measures through Parliament today and tomorrow, including sales tax increases and pension reforms, to guarantee that talks on a third multibillion-euro bailout for Greece can start in earnest.
He faces an uphill battle to persuade members of his own Syriza party, as well as his governing coalition partner, to back the deal.
Revolt
Syriza’s Left Platform, a group of traditionalists in Tsipras’ own party, swiftly denounced the agreement as the “worst deal possible… (one) that maintains the country’s status: a debt colony under a German-run European Union.”
Yesterday, one of the leaders of Syriza’s parliamentary group posted a message on Facebook calling on Tsipras to leave Brussels and hold a new round of elections.
“Do not accept it!” he wrote. “Cancellation of the bailout!”
On Twitter, the hashtag #ThisIsACoup was trending Sunday with calls for Tsipras to reject the deal. The prime minister’s Facebook page was flooded with comments urging him to defy Greece’s creditors: “Whatever happens, do not give up! We will fight together until the end!” one user wrote.
Passage of the new measures appears assured though, since Greece’s opposition parties have pledged to support Tsipras’ deal.
Opposition not opposed
Conservative opposition leader Vangelis Meimarakis said “Greece can catch its breath, so that with sobriety and responsibility it can try to find its step in Europe again.”
But dissent within the ruling Syriza party is threatening his coalition, raising the prospect of some sort of national unity government or an early election later this year.
Greece’s labour minister says the country is likely to see another general election this year. Panos Skourletis, a former Syriza spokesman, told state television the government will need “borrowed votes from the opposition” to pass the new austerity measures demanded by its creditors.
He says “I cannot see how we can avoid elections in 2015… we believe in something different than what we’ve been forced to sign with a gun pointed to our head.”
He may have to expel renegades from his Syriza party and look to make other political alliances of convenience to get the package through the 300-seat parliament.
Without an official blessing from parliament, the promised financial lifelines could be pulled back and Greece would be pitched back into full-scale crisis.
Herald with AP, Reuters, Washington Post
Source: Buenos Aires Herald