Strategies Regarding Greece (Not Required)

I know I made you read a lot about Greece. And I know it’s pretty boring a lot of the time (it bores me too). But … like spoiled teenagers … Greeks were the ones that decided that other people need to pay more attention to them.

Anyway, I read a piece about this year’s Greek crisis that interested me more than others. It appeared in the March 30 issue of The Wall Street Journal and was entitled “Greece’s Fate Lies in Athens’ Hands, Not Berlin’s”.

What I liked about this was the non-judgmental way it discussed the strategies and realities of all sides. Here are some excerpts:

One of the Greek government’s biggest mistakes …has been to assume that its fate lay in German hands. …

… Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras believed that Greece’s fortunes hinged on a “political deal” that pitched Athens against Berlin. … German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to convince Mr. Tsipras that he was wrong: he had overestimated Germany’s power and underestimated the importance of respecting eurozone rules and processes. …

…

But Berlin is adamant that it cannot deliver what Athens has been effectively demanding: unconditional loans. For Germany, it is a vital legal principle that the deal struck by the previous Greek government … remains a continuing obligation of the Greek state. …

Of course, Athens is entitled to seek changes to its bailout program, but it needs the agreement of all the other 18 members of the Eurogroup, not just Germany. …

Besides, finance ministers have delegated the task of designing and evaluating bailouts to the institutions formerly known as the troika … it avoids the politically toxic situation where one government sits in judgment on the policies of another …

In Berlin—and across the eurozone—there is frustration that Athens spent two months challenging the process, rather than working on the substance …

… What remains nonnegotiable is that Athens’s proposals must be fully evaluated by the institutions, a program agreed and some reforms implemented before any cash can be disbursed.

…

… Athens has received little sympathy from Berlin over its warnings that it is running out of cash … officials note that the date on which Athens says it will run out of money keeps changing. …

…

… There are some signs this pressure is working. Eurozone officials say … there has been constructive engagement between Athens and the institutions. … Though details remain … technical teams are still hampered by the refusal of Athens to allow them to talk directly to ministers …

What is clear is that the decisive moves in this saga will be made in Athens, not Berlin. Mr. Tsipras campaigned on a promise to keep Greece in the euro but also to change the eurozone. Now it is clear he cannot do both …

BTW: the author also notes that we’re not supposed to call it The Troika any more:

[Greece] refused to deal with the “troika” … — comprising the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — since renamed “the institutions,” now known as “the Brussels Group.” It was reluctant even to negotiate with the Eurogroup of European finance ministers …