13 Jul 2015

EU hopes what Alexis agreed, Athens will enact

Welcome to Brussels, the new joint capital of Greece, along with Berlin.

The deal announced this morning with not exactly much fanfare essentially takes control of much of the Greek “economy” into the hands of suits in Brussels and Germany. That is the price for Yet Another Bailout.

Juncker and Merkel saying early today they are confident Athens will do as it is told and as its own leader has negotiated.

So what about that referendum Alexis?

As one wag put it today;

“Tsipras has gone from Castro to Clegg in about the time it takes to boil an egg.”

Clegg infamously u-turned on the comparatively domestic minor issue of student fees.

Tsipras has taken a resounding mandate against EU austerity and negotiated far more austerity than even Merkel demanded so very recently.

It all amounts to a Thatcherite hi-speed privatisation revolution in the space of three days.

Overhaul your pension system (less money and later in life); destroy many of your trade union powers; privatise swathes of your economy from electricity pylons across the islands to the banks – and do it all by close-of-play Wednesday and we will give you Bailout Three.

Can the Greek parliament stomach it? Can Tsipras try somehow to save what little face he has left to salvage?

Equally how will the Germans respond who keep on forking out billions to be met by shameful, racist Greek insults about Nazis.

As ever the battle ground is the dense detail about the €50-odd billion contingency fund raised by forced privatisation offset against debt repayment.

Read more: What was the point of the Tsipras referendum?

Also the detail of the real part played by the IMF in all this which Tsipras wants to get off Greece’s back in no uncertain terms.

Tsipras is spinning for all he’s worth (not much to be frank) and fighting for political survival.

So too, Merkel and Hollande, trying to talk about a degree of trust being re-established in the Eurozone this morning though to be honest neither appeared much convinced by their own words

But implementation is all and already Tsipras is saying this will be “difficult”.

The circus now moves south to Athens, the former Greek capital.

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