Austerity vote

On Wednesday, Greek parliamentarians voted on a comprehensive savings package for the period 2012 to 2015. It had been characterized as a day of reckoning for Greece, for the eurozone, and even for the global economy. Some outlined the horror scenario of Greece going bankrupt as early as mid-July. The most extravagant fantasies even spoke of a new global financial crisis similar to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

Now, by a small majority, the Greek parliament has approved the basis for a new law on the package of austerity measures. The program includes savings and tax rises amounting to 28 billion euros for the coming years. On top of that comes an ambitious program of privatizations, which should see 50 billion euros flow into the state coffers. So is Greece now saved and the collapse of the eurozone averted? Not a hope.

Greece has simply earned itself a breather and secured the vital next tranche of the bailout agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The implementation of the austerity measures approved on Wednesday will be closely monitored by the international money-lenders. The so-called Troika, made up of representatives from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF has already identified significant discrepancies in the first austerity program. Athens has miscalculated again.

The state authorities in Greece aren't properly prepared for implementing the measures and are being confronted with the growing resentment of the population. Even the government has admitted that the austerity measures are unfair but vital. An honest admission, but that won't encourage people to accept the cuts. Greece urgently needs a reliable system for tax collection and an independent commission for the privatization program. Greece also needs a minimum of political consensus, if not the oft-promised but so far unrealized new foundation of the state.

The EU and the eurozone are demanding nothing less than this. It seems as though understanding is dawning that austerity measures alone aren't a solution in the long term, neither for Greece nor for the endangered southern eurozone states. Again and again, a little Marshall Plan is drawn up for Athens, a plan which would in an ideal world stimulate all the weaker economies in the south and secure lasting productivity. Only then can the birth defect in the eurozone, the herding together of the most diverse economic orders and political ideologies in a single currency, be overcome. As the biggest beneficiary of the euro era, Germany has to take a leading role in this. For issues on this scale, you can't expect the solution to come from Athens, Lisbon or Dublin.

Author: Spiros Moskovou, Deutsche Welle / ji
Editor: Matt Zuvela