Analysis: Greeks may use ballot box to reject cuts

By TREVOR SALMON
Published on Tuesday 14 February 2012 00:00

THERE is a real constitutional crisis with the European Union and Greece.

The EU is meant to be built on the principle of democracy, but here we see countries like Germany are saying what sort of policies the Greek government should have. It is not hard to imagine a real anti-German sentiment in Greece.

But the real issue is ordinary Greeks, such as school teachers being told they have to accept a 20 per cent pay cut, or a 20-year-old with no prospect of a job. What if these people say enough is enough and vote for a party at this year’s Greek elections that says it won’t go ahead with the austerity plan?

This is a real possibility, as you now have a situation so bad that the Greek Orthodox Church is running food distribution centres and aid agencies have a presence on the streets of Athens.

Greek voters could, in these circumstances, turn to a party that simply said no to the cuts, which would mean Greece left the eurozone and defaulted. This would have a huge effect on banks in Germany and France, meaning they lose the money they have in Greece.

In these circumstances, German and French banks would suffer. This is a crisis that could have a ripple effect on the rest of Europe for years to come.

The difficulty is that this prospect of a real crisis does not seem to be understood in Brussels, Paris and Berlin.

Greek voters are being told there is no alternative, but there is always an alternative, and this year voters may have the opportunity to choose that alternative if a party positions itself as being against the cuts.

• Trevor Salmon is professor of politics at the University of Aberdeen.

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joewood

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 03:05 PM

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