Wednesday 29th April 2015
Greece : One step forward ..... or perhaps not
"Tsipras warns of referendum if austerity bailout terms are
unacceptable to Athens" , The Financial Times, p.7
"New negotiator who must square the circle for Greece" ,
The Daily Telegraph, p.B8
The well-signposted removal of Greece's loose cannon of a finance
minister Yanis Varoufakis from their negotiating team, and his replacement as
frontman by the wonderfully named Euclid Tsakalotos, will have been warmly
welcomed by their Eurozone counterparts. If nothing else, the atmosphere will
be much improved. But then again, how could it not be? Some reports have
it that Mr Varoufakis and Eurozone chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem nearly came to
blows in a Brussels corridor. Euclid Tsakalotos will be viewed as a safer pair
of hands with at least some political experience, and all will be hoping that
he can display at least an element of the mathematical astuteness of his famous
namesake.
A welcome move then for sure, but let's not get carried away. Mr
Tsakalotos has long been part of the same negotiating team led by his
predecessor, and he possesses impeccable left-wing credentials. He
may prove to be a more pleasant man to deal with, but is unlikely to be any
kind of pushover. Remember too, Mr Varoufakis may have been frozen out of
negotiations but he remains as finance minister and figure of influence.
And as if to provide a counterweight to suggestions that the swap
in personnel might signify a softening of Greece's position, PM Alexis Tsipras
gave a particularly punchy interview on Monday night in which he alluded to the
possibility of calling a referendum of the people to decide between
staying in the Euro or saying no to austerity. Quite how he might get that done
before time runs out Mr Tsipras did not make clear. The interview also included
the line "Whoever gets scared in this game loses", which would
seem to confirm that on his side at least the whole process has been reduced to
a game of "who blinks first ?". Not a good sign.
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