Greece’s Syriza-led government has basically folded, for now, in its debt negotiations with the rest of Europe.
A “complete political surrender to the world of reality” was how [one European bank analyst] put it. [Other analysts] labeled it a “u-turn” by Tsipras, who won election Jan. 25 promising an end to budget cutting.
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At last week’s meeting, Greece signed up to all the conditions of its current package and to continued international oversight, ditching plans to win back control of its purse strings so it could raise wages and pensions.
You can find GayPatriot’s backgrounder here. And some details on the new agreement, here.
Needless to say, many Syriza supporters are outraged. For example, one Syriza veteran of WW2 said, “…[Syriza’s] promises have not turned into practice…On my part, I APOLOGIZE to the Greek people because I have contributed to this illusion.”
My feelings are mixed. Pleasure at seeing a gang of socialists having to learn math, combined with dismay/sympathy for the Greek people – who probably shouldn’t cave in; they probably would be better off, in the long run, if they defaulted on their debt and left the Eurozone.
I don’t think this drama is over. I think it ends with either Greece or Germany leaving the Euro currency (later this year or perhaps in 2016), as the Eurozone simply isn’t big enough for both of them. But, as the saying goes, “we’ll see.”