There is a lot of talk in the past few weeks about resolving the Greek debt issue by coming to an “honest deal” with creditors. The Greek government keeps saying that it seeks an honest deal and not a new Memorandum.
This statement by Alexis Tsipras implies that the other side has not been honest so far. So why ask for a loan from institutions you consider to have been dishonest with you and are trying to trick you into something bad, like a new Memorandum?
Greek people have been living a play of the theater of the absurd since the February 20 deal on Greece’s bailout extension. On February 20 we celebrated a great deal that brings the country back to the road of dignity, national pride and a revived economy.
Yet, ever since that day, gradually and painfully, the Greek government indirectly admitted that the super deal they signed was in fact an extension of the old bailout program, the hated Memorandum. And on top of that, Greece did not get any cash to go with that splendid deal.
After two months of fruitless creative ambiguity, negotiations are still at an infant stage and the country at the brink of bankruptcy. Now Mr. Tsipras will ask, once again, the German Chancellor and the French President to intervene and find an honest compromise to solve Greece’s problem.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tsipras, why you keep asking them for loans and the next moment you turn your head and call them blackmailers? So, why, Mr. Tsipras you keep calling Angela Merkel for help while half of your cabinet members believe that today’s Germans are still Nazis and propagandize against them? Why don’t you admit that you need her?
Why you keep telling creditors that you need reforms but have not implemented any so far? Why you keep asking creditors to keep you in the Eurozone but a significant portion of the cabinet believe we should return to the drachma? Why they ask you for hard figures on the reforms you propose and you reply with theories and wishful thinking? Why you keep saying that Greece belongs in Europe, while you seek alliances with Russia and consider loans from the BRICS bank?
More importantly, why aren’t you honest with the people who put you in power? Why you keep promising more and more when you don’t have the cash to deliver? Why haven’t you done anything about the economy while you promise a welfare state? A welfare state requires a strong economy, Mr. Tsipras.
And then why you tell Greek people that Russia might help, when in fact you came back from Moscow with a whole lot of nothing in your hands, not even a discount on natural gas? Why don’t you put a leash on your cabinet members who profess that they’d rather blow the country up than sign a dishonest deal? Sorry, Mr. Tsipras, but nobody voted for you to blow the country up. Or to lead us to a Grexit.
Someone is not very honest here, Mr. Prime Minister.
Instead of honesty, we get a lot of wishful thinking: For a fair society, more democracy, equality, peace, justice, more dignity, more pride. In other words, nothing that the suffering Greek people can actually take to the bank.
Other than wishful thinking, we get a lot of heroic talk: We will not succumb, we will fight ’til the end, we will blow Europe up, we will die before we sign a new memorandum, we will_____ (add a heroic act of your choice). Who are these people who profess they can blow Europe up? The people who sit in parliament and get fat wages with money borrowed from Europe?
So, in reality, the honest deal the government is seeking is a deal that will give us money and allow us to do as little as possible to reform this stagnating country. Kudos to the Prime Minister if he can achieve that and keep us afloat. For a while at least.
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