The Greek dilemma

The world’s attention is focused on Greece as it is experiencing a debt cri­sis. It was made par­ti­cularly evident by the Greek ques­tion being the first item on the agenda of all recent EU summits and the G20 sum­mit that ended on No­vember 4. On October 27, the EU summit in Brus­sels adopted a plan to get Greece out of its debt crisis, which involved a number of policy measures and writing-off 100 billion euros of the nation’s foreign debt. Greek Prime Minister George Pa­pandreou decided, how­ever, to ask the Greeks should the government agree to these terms. The decision pro­voked outrage among EU leaders. French President Ni­colas Sarkozy, in parti­cular, said that Greece had no alternative to the plan and stressed that the Greeks would not receive any money until the referendum results became known. The Day ask­ed the Director of the Center for International and Euro­pean Studies at Kadir Has University (Istanbul) Dimit­rios Triantafilou to comment on the mood in the Greek society and the government’s decision to hold the popular vote:

Dimitrios, could you comment on the situation in Greece? What is the prevailing sentiment among Greeks during this European crisis?

“And what do you think? Everybody is very depressed and confused, upset and concerned about the future. On the one hand, there is an understanding that Greece needs financial support for the reforms to be implemented. On the other hand, the reforms mean a reduction of wages and pensions, dismissals of employees from their jobs, that is, the reforms are a set of difficult challenges. The society is engulfed by the mood of bewilderment and confusion. In addition, it is exasperated because the political elite, not only the prime minister, but the entire political class, and especially the two ruling parties, government and opposition, which have ruled the country in turns since 1974, assure us that Greece has never seen anything like that.”

What do the Greeks think about the government’s role in overcoming this debt crisis, and especially its intention to hold a re­fe­rendum?

“The majority of Greeks, probably, oppose the holding of this referendum, because the constitution says that a referendum may be held only after the proper procedures had been observed. Referendums are not a part of our tradition. In the history of Gree­ce, a referendum was held only once in 1974. A simple question was then put to vote, and it read: “Do you want for the country to continue as monarchy or not?” The Greeks answered in the negative. If we do really live in a democratic country, then our politicians are expected to do the decision-making. Whether we liked these decisions or not, this question should be answered during the next election, as well as the question of keeping the government on its job or not. So the Greeks are very concerned about this decision to hold the referendum, because it reflects the inability of politicians to do their job as they shift the burden of deciding the country’s future to the public. This referendum has been a troubled enterprise from its very beginning. Of course, we will go to vote because we want to stay in Euro­pe. About 70 percent of Greeks support this view. To be in the EU is to be among the most powerful countries in Europe. What the Greeks do not understand, is linking the referendum to the fate of the ruling party. It turns out that your “yes” at the re­fe­rendum means a lifeline for the current government. But it is the current government that must be held responsible for the current crisis, as they had the opportunity to implement necessary reforms. It came to this after the last week’s European summit adopted a very tough decision on a new loan, which Greece stands to receive from the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the European Central Bank. If the politicians already have an agreement with the EU, why then do they want to hold a referendum? Everybody asks this question now.”