Greek referendum: The aftermath

The result of Greece’s referendum could not be any clearer as the overwhelming majority of Greeks (61,31%) rejected the agreement plan submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the Eurogroup of 25 June 2015. Greek people decided to follow the “tough way” against austerity policies and poverty. They decided once again to oppose against technocrats’ ultimatums and hope for development.

Last week Greeks experienced a lot of challenges: immoral propaganda in the media, capital controls in the banks and high polarization. Many people stated that a national division is ongoing and civil war situations are observed. The vote result contrariwise shows that for the first time in history the election map is painted with a single color! Throughout Greece people voted for more democracy and dignity by sending their clear message both to Greek, as well as to European politicians for the future.

Soon the same night Antonis Samaras, former Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition, resigned as chairman of New Democracy (ND) party as he is considered the main culprit for the failure of the YES campaign. Early the next day popular Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis stepped down too in a very surprising move! He stated that “[he] was not welcome in the Eurogroup meetings by some of the other participants” and his resignation could be potentially helpful to Tsipras in reaching an agreement.

Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece, was one of the big winners of the referendum’s results in and out of Greece. The popular support on him was confirmed massively. Most of the Greeks on the face of Tsipras recognize the first politician who did not “betray” their vote and fights for their interests. Also at European level, Tsipras’ speech in European Parliament on 8 July impressed many of the MEPs and was welcomed very warmly. During his short term as active in EU (and candidate for European Commission president) Tsipras has achieved to influence positively the Party of the European Left and the GUE/NGL group. He (along with Pablo Iglesias) is the main reference person of the European left in the last few years and the first leftist to govern a big EU country.

On 6 July Tsipras made a gesture of cooperation and called for a meeting of party leaders (except Golden Dawn) with the presence of the President of Greece. All, except the Communist Party leader, agreed to authorize him to continue the negotiations with the institutions in order to reach an agreement having as sole requirement Greece not to leave the Eurozone or the EU. It seems that the resignation of Samaras (ND) and Venizelos (PASOK) from the chairmanship of their parties helped to strengthen the spirit of cooperation among the party leaders.

But the main outcome of the Greek referendum is the lack of serious and strong leadership in the European Union. Juncker, Schulz, Dijsselbloem and other EU officials intervened openly in a major political issue in Greece without being impartial or objective. They interpreted the referendum’s question as a YES/NO to the Eurozone or YES/NO to the European Union. It was Schulz who called for the removal of Greece’s elected government in favour of a technocratic government! After the referendum they refused to accept the democratic result of it. They pretended that it was all for nothing and just “forgot” about their initial interpretation of the question. Fench President François Hollande beforehand stated that Tsipras is “inappropriate” to hold the negotiations and then called him for further negotiations...

Greeks during the referendum vote showed also their anger against European leaders for their timidity to take initiatives that could end the debt problem. They feel punished from the EU and blackmailed to sign their economic death. A few days ago (5 July) Spiegel’s Mathieu von Rohr tweeted that “Those who actually think Merkel can just close a deal with Tsipras now know absolutely nothing about German politics and public opinion”. This is the major problem that EU faces nowadays: the whole Union lies upon a person and his/her decisions or will. In addition, Germans or other Europeans who think that Greeks can be threatened by ultimatums know absolutely nothing about Greek politics and public opinion. During the years when a foreign power put ultimatums, Greeks always refused them! They prefer not to be told (or taught) what to vote or what opinion to support. This is the main reason why the YES campaign failed totally: corrupted Greek former politicians, EU officials and media oligarchs waved a finger to citizens guiding them on what to vote. All this by showing full ignorance of people’s everyday life and the problems they face.

All in all, it is very optimistic that people across Europe supported Greeks and their decision. Everyone should understand that the fight against austerity is not a Greek problem, but a European one as Italy or Spain could follow. It is also very important for EU’s future integration not to put countries against each other and (despite a few exceptions) this was achieved. Now Tsipras holds a strong popular legitimacy to reach a more fair agreement with the institutions.