SYRIZA, a left-wing party, gave false promises about annihilating the Memorandum, dismissing the Troika and the cropping the loan. They, also, assured us for higher salaries and pensions, lower taxes and a normal life, thus seizing the votes of the Greeks on the 25th January, 2015.
In the post ELECTIONS, I had the written:
“.... We were, all, shocked and stunned by the undiplomatic behaviour and bravado of certain Ministers …. the cabinet’s extraordinary dress code. Why? To become recognizable, perhaps.”
I ended:
“ If they rule the country with sanity, we shall all wish them well for Greece and Europe.”
During the first three-and-a-half months, the new government employed umpteen civil servants and re-opened ERT (Greek Radio Television), a state-owned broadcasting station with hundreds of employees that the country, simply, cannot afford. They changed Security, Education and Migration laws for the worse.
Also the Prime Minister and a few of his Ministers gave numerous interviews to leading international broadcasting stations, achieving their purpose of becoming household names.
Finally in mid-May, the Greek government started negotiating with our partners and creditors to reach an agreement on the extension of the financial assistance arrangement. They renamed Memorandum to “Agreement” and Troika to “Institutions”. They, also, thought they could change the rules of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They refused to consent to any of the measures proposed by our creditors. I must admit that some were very severe, but others seemed quite fair.
On the 26th June, after endless discussions and when, finally, an agreement was almost reached, the Greek delegation broke off the negotiations and left.
Early on Sunday morning the 27th June the Greek Parliament voted to hold a referendum on the 5th July that will be decisive for our future and determine if Greece remains in the eurozone and the E.U. or not.
In retaliation. the European Central Bank stopped providing Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to Greece. Promptly the Greek government imposed Capital Controls to prevent withdrawals of savings from the banks and to avert a collapse of the very frail fiscal system.
All the banks, both Greek and foreign will remain shut until Monday, 6th July or later. There are long queues of old people in front of the ATMs, where withdrawals are limited to 60 Euros per card, per day. There is a ban on payments and transfers abroad which is very detrimental to businesses. Also, many tourists have canceled their trips to Greece due to the very unstable economic situation.
But the worse was still to come. As we missed a repayment of 1.5 billion Euros to the International Monetary Fund at 1 a.m., on the 1st July 2015, we were the first developed country to default. We cannot believe it, in five months time a credit disaster. There is a sense of shock and deep sadness throughout the country.
Dear Compatriots, I know that you are resilient and proud and brave. Please, also be patient and enduring because very soon we shall get out of this very terrible mess! And tomorrow, please vote NAI YES NAI YES for your loved ones, for Greece, for Europe!!
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