Greece faces a challenge

By Alexis Papachelas

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_28/10/2011_412322

Greece is facing a difficult challenge today. For the past 30 years, Greek citizens believed that they had a life contract -- or rather, two contracts. One was a contract with our politicians, on the basis of which a young person’s employment in the public sector was considered almost certain, as was our “settlement” of tax obligations on the basis of which politicians we knew. The second was a contract with the European Union, which provided substantial benefits in the form of agricultural subsidies and other EU funds. For the past 30 years we lived on the basis of these two contracts and we have to say that they were good years. At first we had many billions in the form of Community funding and then came the easy loans that we secured through our being members of the eurozone. Either through loans or from EU funding, these were good years for all -- including Germans and others who took advantage of the great Greek party.

I am not talking about the consumer goods that we became accustomed to with such ease. I am talking about, for example, the pharmaceutical companies that exploited to the full Greece’s corrupt and disorganized system so as to multiply their profits compared to what they made in other countries. I am referring to the many billions that went toward armaments, behind which were huge kickbacks.

This system has collapsed. The money is finished -- both the EU funding and the loans from international markets. It is natural that Greek public opinion should be angry with its politicians, with the Greek establishment, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the troika, with the banks. We are a proud nation with a long history and we cannot easily accept the international shame nor the unjust generalization and slander of the Greeks as lazy and cheats. We too have our yellow press and blind nationalism, which has found grist for its mill in the form of German front pages that present the Parthenon as being for sale, and other such nonsense. We are now trying to regain our balance but we feel that the ground has slipped away from under our feet. We feel secure inside the European family but we are also suffocated by the German leadership’s tough love, which sometimes reaches the point of hysteria. We understand that it is our national goal to regain our economic and national sovereignty but this will take time and we will need great patience to get out of the black hole, because the state and our public administration need to be rebuilt from the ground up. This will require time, professional help and leadership. As for the private sector, I would not worry too much. Greeks are very adaptable and know how to make the best of their opportunities. It is no coincidence that so many Greeks have succeeded in business beyond our borders -- in Germany, in America, and so on. The new generation of Greeks has very high standards and is cosmopolitan and ready to create.

Greece Referendum threatens new euro crisis


http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/greek-referendum-threatens-new-euro-crisis-20111101-1msrs.html

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has threatened the euro zone with a new crisis with his shock announcement that he will hold a referendum on the last-minute bailout deal struck only last week to try to contain the bloc's debt mountain.

Euro zone leaders agreed to hand Athens a second, 130-billion-euro bailout and a 50-per cent write-down on its enormous debt to make it sustainable.

Papandreou, whose ruling Socialist party has suffered several defections as it pushes waves of austerity measures through parliament while protesters rally outside, said he needed wider political backing for the fiscal measures and structural reforms demanded by international lenders.

"If there was to be a referendum, we may reasonably conclude that they may not accept the austerity measures. We may conclude that it will bring the pack of cards tumbling down," Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London, said.

Analysts said holding a referendum - likely to be held early next year and only Greece's second in almost 40 years - was baffling, given that the latest opinion poll showed a majority of Greeks took a negative view of the bailout deal.

Early reactions to the surprise move ranged from accusations that Papandreou was gambling with the country's future and predictions of default, to questions over the constitutional legality of the referendum and statements by lawmakers that a No vote would force his resignation and early elections.