The Rebel Greek Lawmakers

Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Theodore Pangalos told El Mundo that short -term austerity policies will be approved by the Parliament. Long-term ones, which include a list of many Greek government assets that are for sale in addition to specific government cuts, may be voted down. That would obviously compromise the chance that banks will agree to restructure Greece’s debt. The EU and IMF are afraid to use the ‘r’ word out of fear the action will be viewed as a sort of default.

Pangalos calls the members of Parliament who may block long-term plans “rebels” which implies that they are either in the minority or are insane. If fact, they may only be a majority that has decided to cast ballots on behalf of the will of the general electorate.

The fate of the Greek austerity plan is still more in the hands of Greek voters that it is anywhere else. The referendum about whether the current government should remain in place is months off. That is a shame because, no matter what the financial cost to the southern European country, an administration which favors policies that will be rejected in the next election only begs a reversal of the promises Greece is about to make now.  Those decisions are on the behalf of austerity whether that be tax increases, efforts to collect taxes, the sale of assets, or huge cuts in government costs. Greek voters–probably most of them–have adopted the position that the problems they face were caused by decisions in the past. That means in the present they should not have to bear the burden to rectify them. It is a convenient argument that is specious on the face of it, but it is also probably the one that will prevail.

Douglas A. McIntyre