Georgios Papandreou

"LandepNews"

Georgios Papandreou

Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou on Tuesday was criticized by the European leaders as he made the shocking decision of calling a referendum on the new bailout package Greece is about to receive. The decision comes a week after the Greek parliament cast a vote on the package, while people in the streets of Athens demanded that the snap elections be called.
Papandreou said that a referendum would be organized in a few weeks to allow the Greeks decide whether they agree with the governmental policy and the bailout package and the austerity measures it brings with it.
The Finnish Europe Minister Alexander Stubb said that the situation in Greece is so tense that a referendum on economic policies and cooperation with the European countries in their attempt to save the euro zone would mean in fact a referendum on Greek membership to the EU.
The same idea is expressed by the Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras, who said that the vote on euro zone policies would mean a vote on the EU membership. Samaras said that Papandreou “flips the coin of EU membership in the air.”
New Democracy party spokesman accused him that he could not govern and as a result he dynamited the entire country.
Spanish secretary for the EU said that if Greece voted no in the referendum, then there is another crisis in the EU. A Paris-based share trader said that if the Greeks vote no, the entire process of saving the euro zone could be derailed.
German chancellor’s coalition allies announced that they were “irritated” by the decision made by the Greek PM and that it sounded like someone is trying to pull out of an agreement.
The German leader announced that the rest of the countries must prepare for the situation when a country could reach insolvency and the money to help it must be turned off.
While most people appreciate the democratic stance, some of them going as far as to announce that democracy “is coming home,” the question that stands is what will the Greeks be asked by the referendum, and especially what happens next if the Greeks answer no to the plan of European bailout.
It is expected that the Greek people may say no to the idea of having an austerity plan in place, because it would mean cuts, unemployment and a lower life standard. However, the return of the country to the national drachma would lead to a slow of its economic development and, in the long run, to a even lower life standard than the one known these days.
In the meantime the announcement caused the Euro currency to lose to dollar and the stock markets to fluctuate. The referendum in Greece throws the entire euro zone in an uncertainty which is detrimental to the entire European construction.
The worst part is that it comes at a time when the Britons demand that a referendum on European membership be organized in their country as well. The Prime Minister David Cameron was faced last week with a mutiny within his Conservative party, and the referendum did not pass in the parliament because it was voted against by the opposition, which does not mean that by the end of the year, according to the law, the PM won’t have to organize it.
Britons complain that the country had to cede too many powers to the European bloc and want them back. They don’t necessarily entertain the idea of leaving the EU, but who knows what will happen now that another country demands referendum?

Thank's for link: