Banks in Greece are likely to open their doors on Monday for the first time in three weeks after the European Central Bank boosted emergency funding for the country’s financial sector by €900m. A crisis that had acquired the proportions of a tsunami with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras holding a referendum on whether to accede to EU austerity is whittling down to a storm or even less. Greeks are finally preparing to swallow the bitter pills prescribed by their creditors, which they have been fighting to avert so far, and we can reasonably expect that the worst is over. The ECB’s decision to release cash came after Tsipras won a crucial parliamentary vote backing the spending cuts and economic reforms he has pledged to implement in exchange for opening talks on an €86bn bailout. The European commission, one of three creditors to Greece along with the IMF and the ECB, also announced it had put together a €7bn bridging loan for Athens.
The events of the past several days show that Tsipras has badly misjudged and miscalculated the situation. The prime minister certainly didn’t help his cause with the European leaders by calling for a last-minute referendum in which voters rejected an earlier bailout deal. In the end he capitulated after trying every possible tactic, and accepted the toughest demands yet made by creditors. Many Greeks felt betrayed by their prime minister’s acceptance of the terms. There were violent protests and clashes on streets, and when the parliament agreed to the measures demanded by its creditors, 38 government MPs chose not to back Tsipras. The premier had to rely on opposition support to pass the package of measures on Wednesday. The interior minister, Nikos Voutsis, suggested elections could follow in the autumn as Tsipras seeks a mandate to press ahead with austerity measures.
There were reports that the creditors, especially Germany, have punished him for his referendum tactic. After weeks of tortuous negotiations, Tsipras should have realized that there were only two options for his country: accept creditors’ terms or get ready for exit from the bloc. Creditors had never bothered about the public opinion in Greece. They were looking only at hard facts.
In the whole process, Germany received more criticism. German chancellor Angela Merkel has been portrayed as the villain with her rigid stance on Greece. Jürgen Habermas, one of the intellectual figureheads of European integration, launched a scathing attack on Merkel accusing her of “gambling away” the efforts of previous generations to rebuild the country’s postwar reputation with her hardline stance on Greece. The philosopher and sociologist said the German chancellor had effectively carried out “an act of punishment” against the leftwing government of Tsipras.
But that should be no consolation for Tsipras. He must refrain from committing more mistakes.
