How about
no? The crisis ballot on a European bailout comes down to an abstractly worded
query and two documents in English.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has
called a surprise referendum for Sunday on how much more austerity his country
is willing to endure, and Beltas is struggling to make sense of it all.
The ballot question, formally presented on
Monday afternoon, loosely translates as: “Should we accept the proposal
submitted on June 26, 2015, by the Eurogroup, European Central Bank, and the
International Monetary Fund?” Whether in Greek or English, voters say, the
referendum is confusing, referring to a "plan of agreement ... composed of
two parts," attaching two complex documents in English and not clearly
explaining anything.
“Yes or no, that’s what they tell us the choice
is,” Beltas says. “But they’re not saying what will happen later. ... What will
the government do after the vote?” He plans to vote yes.
"People don't understand what they're
voting for," says George, an attorney in Athens who asks that his last name
not be used. "Many think it's voting for Tsipras or voting against
Tsipras. Or they say: 'I want to stay in Europe, whatever this means.'
Everyone, the Greek people, the government, the Europeans, interprets the
question in their own way. That’s the problem."
The Greek Referendum Question
The 68-word
ballot question namechecks four international institutions and asks voters for
their opinion on two highly technical documents that weren’t made public before
the referendum call. Here is the question translated into English:
“Greek people are hereby asked to decide
whether they accept a draft agreement document submitted by the European
Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, at
the Eurogroup meeting held on on June 25 and which consists of two documents:
‘‘The first document is called Reforms for
the Completion of the Current Program and Beyond and the second document is
called Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis.
‘‘- Those citizens who reject the
institutions’ proposal vote Not Approved / NO
‘‘- Those citizens who accept the
institutions’ proposal vote Approved / YES.’’
Tsipras isn’t rushing to clear it up. In
fact, things could get more confusing. His government today asked the EU for a
two-year bailout, hours after the Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini cited
unnamed sources saying that Tsipras was reconsidering a last-ditch offer
proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Negotiations have dragged for six months
over how to manage Greece’s €312 billion ($350 billion) debt. They broke down
late on Friday, when Tsipras surprised even his own government with a call for
a referendum. The prime minister and his Syriza party leaders are encouraging
voters to answer no (Όχι!) on Sunday and have taken to Twitter and other social
and news media to describe the lenders’ stance toward Greece as “blackmail.”
“The dignity of the Greeks” is at stake, Tsipras has repeated over the last
several days.
Tens of thousands of anti-austerity
demonstrators rallied in Athens on Monday night, carrying placards proclaiming
"Όχι!" Today, a #YesToEuro rally is also drawing thousands of
demonstrators in the Greek capital.
It’s not so simple, says Lilly Papagianni, a
publicist with a film distribution company. “It’s a yes-or-no question, but
it’s not a yes-or-no situation,” she says. “If we vote, it’s completely
uncertain what happens next. What I don’t know and can’t figure out is what the
EU really wants to do with Greece. Do they want to deal with us, or do they
want to kick us out?”
Papagianni, who didn't support Tsipras in
the January elections, also plans to answer yes. “I didn’t trust him from the
beginning because he was appealing to so much desperation, and he was proposing
a dream that he couldn’t possibly make good on,” she says. One thing is making
her choice easier, Papagianni says: “All I need to know is that no is the way
the members of Golden Dawn [Greece’s nationalist, neo-Nazi party] will vote, so
I’m comfortable with being on the opposite side of the spectrum from them.”
As of early Tuesday, polling in Greece
suggested that no is beating yes, but the situation is volatile, according to
Maria Karaklioumi, an Athens-based pollster. "Hour by hour, we're seeing
big shifts in people's responses, and 15 percent of voters say they're
undecided," she says. Her polls show support for Tsipras falling. His
approval rating is just under 50 percent today; two weeks ago, it was more than
60 percent.
"People don't trust Tsipras as
much," Karaklioumi says. "He tells us that the vote doesn’t have to
do with our presence in the euro zone or not, so they’re afraid of that and
don't trust that." On the question of whom the Greeks blame for the
nation's crisis, they're not letting anyone off-they see both the government
and the lenders as having created the mess they find themselves in. The deep
division among Greeks on how to vote is playing out on social media, with
people posting news articles and photos of flyers-anything to explain or sway
the vote. An advocacy group for children with cancer posted a flyer to Facebook
asking what yes and no mean: "Will their medicines be available? Will the
necessary radiation devices be available?"
A deputy to the prime minister, asked in a
TV interview on Monday what Greece will do if it fails to make its Tuesday
payment of €1.5 billion to the IMF, didn't answer the question. Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis confirmed on Tuesday that Greece doesn't have the
money to make the payment, and the lenders said an extension would not be
granted. In an interview that aired late Tuesday in Greece, Tsipras said that
he's not an "all-weather prime minister" and that he will resign if
fewer than 55 percent of Greeks vote no.
The Greeks have suffered under austerity.
Calls for pension cuts by the country's lenders haven't let up following a
gradual series of reductions over the last few years. The government has raised
property and utility taxes. Unemployment is at 25 percent, and it's nearly
double that for younger Greeks.
The latest challenge confronting Greeks is
the capital controls imposed over the weekend. Banks are closed and will stay
closed until at least Monday. For pensioners
who don't have bank cards and are due to collect their monthly payments
on Tuesday, the Finance Ministry said about 1,000 branches will open on
Wednesday for withdrawals capped at €120 (about $135) this week and-after cards
are issued-up to €60 a day.
Beltas, the retired construction worker, has
a monthly pension of €700, cut by €150 two years ago. He hopes to receive the
full payment on Tuesday. That, too, is a source of some confusion.
“I hear the banks will reopen to pay
pensioners, and they’ll give us the full amount,” he says, adding that he
doesn’t see how long this can go on.
Πηγή:
bloomberg.com
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