The Greek, the Euro and Democracy
After months of negotiations between Greece, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union (EU), which acuminated in an overwhelming amount of over 60% of “no”-votes by the Greek citizens to the reforms attached to the second Greek bailout programme last Sunday (5th July), an end to this Greek tragedy is now coming into sight. On Sunday a final decision is to be taken on whether the Greek reform plans will be accepted by the EU in exchange for a third bailout package or whether it will be rejected, in which case a Greek exit from the Eurozone (“Grexit”) is said to be inevitable.
Last night (Thursday 9th July), two hours before the final deadline at midnight, the Greek government submitted its new reform plan after having formally requested a loan from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on Wednesday (8th July). The terms of the new plan (which can be read here ) seem to be close to what had been rejected in the referendum by the Greek citizens last Sunday. Amongst others, it includes tax reforms, pension reforms as well as raising the retirement age to 67.
The “no” outcome of referendum was hailed by many, and not least by Tsipras and his followers, as a victory for democracy and the end of technocracy and austerity in Greece. It seems as if now Tsipras has turned it into a “yes” after all. In any case, the measures will be voted on by the Greek parliament today (Friday 10th July), before the heads of State and governments of all 28 EU Member States come together on Sunday (12th July) to take the final make-it-or-break-it-decision. However, even where the 28 EU leaders agree to the latest reform package, the bailout must still be ratified by some national parliaments of the other Eurozone Member States – including the German Bundestag – in which finding a majority for such a package is not a clear deal at all.
It might be true that the referendum was an affirmation of democracy in Greece, but the problem here (if one can actually call it that) is that its creditors are also governments of democracies. They are just as democratically accountable to their own citizens, many of whom reject the idea of keeping Greece in the Euro at any cost at this point, as the Greek government is to its own. How can this be reconciled? It might very be possible that the Greek referendum has showed to us the boundaries of shared democracy in an organization as the European Union. While nobody knows what will happen after Sunday, one thing seems to remain: a feeling that democracy can never win in all Member States at once. And that is a whole other tragedy in itself.