Saturday, June 16, 2012

Will Greece Drop the Mic? YANNIS PALAIOLOGOS


“Not a step back: End the troika and the memorandum.” Thus read one of the placards hung up on a lamp post close to Omonoia Square in downtown Athens, where Syriza—the surging left-wing party led by Alexis Tsipras—held its major pre-election rally last night.
The mood in the densely populated square was equally defiant. “It’s not Syriza’s policies that will lead us out of the euro. It’s the policies of the memorandum [signed between Greece and the International Monetary Fund]. They lead to exit with mathematical certainty,” says Panagiotis, a retired banker and self-described “troubled Greek,” referring to the demanding terms of Greece’s bailouts. He concedes that the brinkmanship between Brussels, Berlin, and Athens that may follow a Syriza victory in Sunday’s election could also lead to the painful outcome of a reversion to the drachma, but he is unfazed by the prospect. “It’s better to live with dignity, even if we are poorer,”

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