Alexis Tsipras and President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. Flickr/European Parliament. Some rights reserved.In his recent article in Le Monde (31 May 2015), Greece's PM, Alexis Tsipras, said that if Greece were to implement the (failed) austerity policy of technocrats and bankers, then there would be no need to have elections in Greece, and indeed in any country following austerity programmes. He outlines two competing strategies that tend to shape current European politics: one that promotes unification and solidarity across the continent, and another that fights for division and separation.
Here, we take his thoughts a step further by suggesting what Greece's creditors should know in case the technocrats prevail in the current negotiations. Syriza's Greece cannot and will not default on its people by stopping paying wages and pensions. If matters come to a head, it will default on its creditors because this is a matter of democracy and democratic principles are not negotiable
Greece managed to make a recent payment of 750 million Euros to the IMF by way of drawing down a special account Greece held at the fund. But early in June, a further payment of 300 million Euros to the IMF is required, although the fund said that this can be met at the end of the month, allowing negotiators to strike a deal. It is almost impossible for Greece to meet further obligations to her creditors, given the fact that the most recent payments became possible after Greece's central government forced local authorities and public organisations to commit their reserves to servicing the country's debt.
