Greece blinked! Full surrender Monday.
Greece’s debt deal isn’t the end of eurozone drama
Published: Feb 20, 2015 5:53 p.m. ET
How far was the can
kicked down the road this time?
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Rejoicing over the tentative resolution of the latest
round of eurozone debt drama? Good for you. You’ll get to go through it again
in four months.That is assuming Greece’s weekend exercise in picking its own austerity poison somehow proves mortifying enough to appease the “institutions” (don’t call them the troika anymore) overseeing the country’s bailouts while not enraging Greek voters who elected the new government on the promise it would stop Berlin and Brussels from imposing unrelenting austerity.
See: Greece scores 4-month extension from eurozone on its bailout.
That could prove to be a tall order. Failure on the latter front could mean new elections. Greek voters in January supported Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party on the idea that Greece didn’t want to leave the euro, but could no longer abide harsh austerity measures dictated by the dreaded troika — the widely used name for the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis says Greece won a victory in that it will now be a “co-author” of its reforms, rather than having measures imposed by fiat by its creditors.
Meanwhile, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was attempting to soothe German taxpayers. He emphasized to reporters that Athens won’t see any aid until it completes a satisfactory proposal, Reuters reported.
And perhaps just to rub it in a little, he offered that the Greeks “certainly will have a difficult time to explain the deal to their voters, “ the report said.
If Greek voters feel they got a raw deal, another election could be in the offing. If so, it would likely turn not on the question of austerity, but on a so-called Grexit.
So now Greece must submit a list of reforms to the institutions by the end of the day Monday. The institutions will review pore over it.
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