Gefährliches Spiel von Papandreou - Opposition planlos [Gastkommentar]

The decision of Prime Minister Papandreou to resort to a referendum took everyone by surprise. Although he had talked during the summer about the possibility of conducting a referendum, it looked more likely that this would concern a constitutional reform. 

Now it seems that the Greek people will have to decide whether they accept or not the new loan deal, followed by further austerity measures.

A dilemma that contains a possible exit from the euro zone. The momentum of this decision, i.e. immediately after the agreement of the 26th of October, caused the upset of all European partners, and the Greek opposition parties frustration. Furthermore, it has divided the majority of the Greek society. The main reason for this is, that everyone is questioning the motive of such a decision.

REFERENDUM IS A GAMBLE

Government sources suggest that, the referendum can be used as a leverage, in order to secure better conditions in individual details of the agreement of the 26th of October. So, according to this argument, the possibility of a negative outcome, which would lead to the country’s exit from the euro zone, could force our European partners to retreat to some requirements, out of fear of a possible domino effect. This could result to fewer austerity measures, making the debt’s haircut and the new loan agreement more attractive to the Greek people. 

If this is the case, which I seriously doubt, then Prime Minister Papandreou chose a very bad time to gamble. This practice would have made more sense back in the spring of 2010, before his decision to call upon the IMF and sign the first loan agreement of 110 billion euro. At this point, the –over –a- year-existing austerity measures have already led the Greek society to suffocation. It seems that this ship has sailed.

OPPOSITION: NO PLANS, NO IDEAS, NO STRATEGY

The opposition parties on the other hand, demand nothing less than a general election. No wonder, considering that all poll results indicate that the trust in government fell to all time low. The massive daily protests over the last 6 months, made clear that the government has lost the support of the society. 

All opposition parties believe that the referendum is a dangerous maneuver, the Prime Minister's final, desperate attempt to rescue some of his political legacy or political future. Moreover, the Members of the ruling party are handing over their letters of resignation, one after the other. 

PASOK, the ruling party, came to power in 2009, with a majority of 160 MPs, in a parliament of 300. Since yesterday, it is left with 152 MPs. 

As if it was a poker game, the Prime Minister decided to seek vote of confidence from the parliament on Friday, November the 4th. Given the fact that it takes at least 151 votes to stay in power, an early general election looks extremely possible. Opposition parties focus on the inconsistency between the government’s policy and the people’s will. But this doesn’t, in any way, relieves the opposition from their responsibilities. It seems that their only motive is an increase of seats in the Greek parliament, while their political agenda resembles a blank page; no plans, no ideas, no strategy.

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Evi Papa ist griechische Juristin, war über die vergangenen Monate aktiv in der Protestbewegung in Athen engagiert und macht seit kurzem ein Master's Degree in International Human Rights an der Lund University. Im August hat sie bereits mehrmals für Human Rights Austria geschrieben.

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