Greece crisis: Europe on edge over snap election

[TomandJerry]

This has been suggested for sometime. If he wins the whole Greece issue over the past months/year is put to bed once and for all.......thankfully.

But if not...

 

[cunning fergus]

This has been suggested for sometime. If he wins the whole Greece issue over the past months/year is put to bed once and for all.......thankfully.

That is wishful thinking HT.

To even get close to any final resolution the creditors will need to write off some of the Greek debt.

The IMF have made that point abundantly clear, in their own analysis, albeit debt "restructuring" by the creditors could see the Greeks not having to face demands to pay off their debt capital for hundreds of years.........well and truly kicking the can into another generation's street.

Tsipras is a busted flush, only this week he reneged on his anti privatisation pledge, passing ownership of all Greek airports to Franport, the company that runs Frankfurt's airport.

To the Greeks this is like having voted in Jeremy Corbyn because of his socialist policies but getting Margaret Thatcher.

I would bet having voted in Tsipras on a left wing agenda this time they could well vote someone who will stick to their political guns.........the ex Finance Minister for example.

One thing is for certain, this problem has legs.........

 

[TomandJerry]

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced he is resigning and has called an early election.

 

[beorhthelm]

cop out, he got voted on a platform of anti-austerity and delivered austerity++. now he wants out so he doesnt have to face having to run the country.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

cop out, he got voted on a platform of anti-austerity and delivered austerity++. now he wants out so he doesnt have to face having to run the country.

To be fair though, he did push the anti-austerity stance to the max and tested the will of Greece's creditors as far as he possibly could before the Greek banks were about to go bust. At that point he had to step back from the brink. The creditors will prevailed, as it always had to if the Eurozone was to survive. Fair play to the bloke though, and don't blame him at all for now stepping aside for the sake of his health and sanity. He gave it his best shot, and total respect for that.

 

[beorhthelm]

"to be fair"... really? he and Varoufakis burnt bridges and turned many of the europeans against them. they held out for an impossible deal, and have ended up with a far worse arrangment than they could have had back at easter. about the only thing they've gained i can see is slightly better primary deficit targets.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

"to be fair"... really? he and Varoufakis burnt bridges and turned many of the europeans against them. they held out for an impossible deal, and have ended up with a far worse arrangment than they could have had back at easter. about the only thing they've gained i can see is slightly better primary deficit targets.

They pushed the anti-austerity agenda that they were elected on as far as they possibly could. OK, they may have been naive and the deal may have been impossible, but the Greek people elected them on their agenda, same as every democracy does on any party's agenda. At least no individual member state can now be left in any doubt as to OWNS them.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It seems Syriza and the EU's deal is acceptable to the Greek people.

 

[Buzzer]

Acceptable? I think they have stopped caring. The turnout is expected to be the lowest in history and by some margin. Also Golden Dawn, the neo-nazis look set for their best ever results and likely to come 3rd. I picked this interesting nugget up from Twitter:

...Jobless Greeks favored extreme parties, exit polls say: 16.6% backed neonazi Golden Dawn, 15.8% pro-drachma Popular Unity, 14.8% Communists

 

[TomandJerry]

Voter turnout is currently projected at around 55%, which would be a record low

 

[TomandJerry]

"Despite today’s impressive feat, tempered to some extent by the record low turnout, there is little for Tsipras to celebrate. Apart from having to form a new coalition that can withstand the rigours of implementing the third bailout, he has a list of challenging reforms to quickly carry out. These include pension reform, and overseeing another recapitalisation of Greek banks before the end of the year."

 

[Hampster Gull]

Another principled socialist government on its knees

 

[TomandJerry]

The fresh dose of deflationary measures in Greece’s new €86bn (£63bn) bailout programme, agreed in July after Tsipras folded under pressure from creditors, will deepen a depression similar in its severity to those that afflicted Germany and the United States in the 1930s. The Greek economy has contracted by 29% since 2009 and is still shrinking after months of financial turmoil.*

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

"Despite today’s impressive feat, tempered to some extent by the record low turnout, there is little for Tsipras to celebrate. Apart from having to form a new coalition that can withstand the rigours of implementing the third bailout, he has a list of challenging reforms to quickly carry out. These include pension reform, and overseeing another recapitalisation of Greek banks before the end of the year."

But he now has a mandate from the Greek people to carry this out. They have voted to support him. It shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Hampster Gull]

But he now has a mandate from the Greek people to carry this out. They have voted to support him. It shouldn't be too difficult.

Tough mandate given their hard left background. A party that once promised so much but delivered so little

 

[Ernest]

Tough mandate given their hard left background. A party that once promised so much but delivered so little

The Tory Party in a nutshell

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Tough mandate given their hard left background. A party that once promised so much but delivered so little

A 3rd very large bail out and a mandate from his people for fiscal reform isn't little.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

"Alexis Tsipras has hailed a "victory of the people" after his left-wing Syriza party won Greece's fifth election in six years"

"Mr Tsipras said his decision to call an early election was vindicated and that he had been given a clear mandate."

"This is only four fewer than Mr Tsipras's thumping victory in January"

Tsipras and the EU have delivered what the people wanted. Democracy and cooperation at work.

 

[Buzzer]

You claimed in another thread that you never voted for self-interest in your life. I think your posts tonight show a great deal of self-interest with one of your favourite hobby-horses.

You're clearly wrong, by the way. Tsipras and the EU have delivered what the people didn't want. The Greeks had a referendum a few months back specifically on this subject and they said NO emphatically. The election today conflates many different issues, not just about the EU and with a turnout of just over half the eligible voters I'd say that scale of voter apathy coupled with an extreme right-wing party coming third even with their leaders in prison does not bode well for democracy and co-operation.

It's amazing, your blind spot with this. How you can claim to support Corbyn's anti-austerity platform in the UK yet be clucking at the eye-wateringly harsh austerity package that Greece has to conjure up to satisfy its lenders just doesn't make sense.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Tsipras told supporters he would tackle endemic corruption. “The mandate that the Greek people have given is a crystal clear mandate to get rid of the regime of corruption and vested issues,” he said. “We will show how effective we will be. We will make Greece a stronger place for the weak and vulnerable, a fairer place.”