Greece’s Day of Reckoning Nears
The day is finally approaching. On June 17, Greece will hold its renewed elections and voters will decide much about the future of the country’s eurozone membership – or lack thereof.
There are minor parties in the running, but battling it out in the main event are the New Democracy party and leftist party, Syriza.
New Democracy’s leader, Antonis Samaras, won the lead – but not the majority – of the first round of elections. Samaras continues to emphasize the need for absolute stability going forward with Greece:
“We cannot play poker or dice with Greece. There is the path of responsibility, in which you are clear about what you want, and we say we want the euro and re-negotiation (of the bailout). There are others who are vague.”
Syriza’s leader, Alexis Tsipiras, on the other hand, is appealing to Greek citizens’ fermented distaste for the bailout austerity measures:
“We say to Mrs. Merkel, to Mr. Hollande, and Mrs. Lagarde that you cannot continue to destroy and humiliate the Greek people.”
Regardless of the election results, Greece will soon have a new coalition government. But just what kind of government that is – and whether Greece will remain a member of the eurozone and under what conditions – remains to be seen.
Related Topics: Economy and Politics
