Athens orphan of the EU
relies on the lottery

The Greek bailout is now increasingly a lottery. Athens, in messianic expectation of the aid of Eu and IMF, has entrusted (for now) to the Scratch and win its hopes of avoiding the crash. “The new postponement of the ok to the 8 billion international aid is not a problem – said the finance minister Evangelis Venizelos – we have in cash the liquidity necessary to pay public salaries until mid-November”. One more month than the deadline set just two weeks ago. The guarantee for the renewal of the Opap gambling concession was a guarantee of vital oxygen for Greece.
The decision to entrust the fate of the country to the “Goddess blindfolded” factor is not accidental. The feeling in Athens is that Washington and Brussels, having made their calculations, have decided to abandon Greece to its fate, resigning themselves to managing a controlled default in the country. Their priority at this time therefore seems to be to fine-tune the state-saving fund to shore up the banking system (which will in all probability be called a much greater sacrifice than expected) and avoid a dangerous domino effect on Italy and Spain. Limiting itself to guaranteeing the Papandreou government

the necessary funds to reach the D-Day of the restructuring of a debt that now travels towards 170% of the GDP.
However, in the short term, the step backward of the EU and the Fund is likely to exacerbate the internal situation in the country. The squares are full of protesters for the general strike, the majority – already frayed – is called in the coming days to the titanic effort to impose on his fellow citizens yet another plan tears and blood very strongly wanted by the Troika on whose table, now passes all expenditure decisions of a commissioner Greece. And many, after yet another humiliating postponement of the ok to the sixth tranche of 8 billion aid, are wondering if it is still worth it.

(05 October 2011)