Fra Guardian
Analyst: It’s Merkel 1, Tsipras 0
Demetrios Efstathiou of ICBC Standard Bank says that Greece has been comprehensively routed by Germany in Brussels this weekend:
- Tsipras had to concede on almost every point.
- Merkel comes out as a winner, and should be able to get the deal though the German parliament.
- Germany’s extremely tough position would serve as a warning to other Eurozone nations. There are arguments that she even pushed too far.
- Varoufakis may have gambled, Tsipras and Syriza may have lost, but Greece may be the ultimate winner – Greece has a golden opportunity to implement in record time the drastic reforms that it desperately needed and which successive governments have been unwilling to commit to.
- The formation of a national unity or special purpose government to pass the reforms in the tight time-frame is now required. Elections would have to follow at a later stage.
- The debate will now move on to the reaction of the Greek people. There is no easy answer. Only time will tell. The way I see it is that the Greek people will be relieved to see their banks reopen, their pensions and savings to be still denominated in euros, and the tourist season not destroyed. They should also be celebrating the implementation of structural reforms, but I doubt that.
- Greece must now push through parliament, by Wednesday, July 15th, a series of legislations that include the streamlining of the VAT system, and pension measures
