Telegraph: How the Greek crisis changed Europe forever

Greece's debt drama almost took an unexpected turn this week. Just six months after Alexis Tsipras strode into the presidential palace to be sworn in as prime minister, he was nowhere to be seen in the parliamentary chamber as the country’s 300 MPs gathered to vote on the country’s future.

   Greece needed a third bail-out. The deal on offer was €86bn, but the costs were huge. Many described the terms, which included sacking re-hired public sector workers, tearing up Sunday trading laws and putting a “for sale” sign on €50bn of Greek assets as “humiliating”.

   The midnight deadline for the so-called “prior actions” to get through parliament had already passed in Athens. Around 1,500 miles north west in Berlin’s time zone, it was fast approaching. #WhereisTsipras? Twitter asked, as people started to notice his empty chair. It turned out to be a false alarm. In an era where rules are made to be broken, the brief moment of drama became just another missed deadline.

   But there was no escaping from the reality of the deal Tsipras had struck in the early hours of Monday morning. As he stood up to speak, the firebrand prime minister was just the shell of a man who had stood in Syntagma square in January and told voters that Syriza would end “vicious cycle of austerity”.

   Tsipras had fought the Brussels machine and lost. The agreements for Greece’s bail-out were “made with personal costs for the sake of our people’s rights”, he said. While this was met with applause, to the outside world it was a Pyrrhic victory at best, complete capitulation at worst.

   “The atmosphere was tense, exactly because this was a historic moment, and everyone understood that,” says George Katrougalos, Greece's new labour minister. “There was a psychological burden hanging over everybody”. Outside, citizens born in the birthplace of democracy faced the reality that their “no” in the referendum on austerity was now a firm “yes”, as the motion for years of extra belt-tightening was agreed by 229 out of 300 MPs.

   Banners outside exclaimed “No to privatisations” and “No to the 'povertisation’ of the people”. Others abandoned words, instead throwing molotov cocktails at police as violence erupted on Athens’ streets. For many, there was nothing left to lose.

   It was the conclusion of a week where the idea of “Grexit” was for the first time suggested collectively by the Eurogroup of finance ministers. It was also the week that leaders lost their cool. “I’m not stupid”, Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister snapped at Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank.

   Countries that share the same language were singing from different hymn sheets. Werner Faymann, Austria’s chancellor, said it was not “morally right” for Germany to be calling for a Greek “time-out” from the eurozone. Back in Britain, policymakers weren’t happy either.

   The news that the UK could be on the hook for Greece’s bail-out infuriated George Osborne, who rushed to Brussels demanding that someone else pick up the bill. This was the European Union in action - but it was anything but united.

Πηγή: telegraph.co.uk