'What Should Greece Do Now?' - Keep Calm and Find a Solution

Now is the time to provide Greece with a truly sustainable aid programme that helps Greece out of intensive care. Greeks and Europeans, need a resolution, both political and economic. What is needed is a show of common sense and a move towards European consensus that would strengthen EU and unite its citizens even more but the clock is ticking.

Some months ago the Greek public voted in favour of a new government under the promise of reforms that would change the harsh reality of austerity. Most claim that those reforms are beyond reach. Has Syriza, the new ruling party in Greece, made mistakes? Clearly, yes and during this process Prime minister Mr Tsipras has had to mature a lot under the international spotlight.

Are the mistakes of the present government the reason why Greece might default on its debts? The most urgent question is 'what does Greece do now?'. The ruling party and opposition party have reached a modus vivendi, they agree that they disagree. And this is good but there is no more time to delay reaching a consensus as to how the country should move forward.

The new ruling party has never led the country before and, is now called upon to solve the problems of corruption and taxation of the past three decades. How can you instantly solve problems that are so deeply embedded in a system? The answer is easy but controversial. The system needs to collapse and start a fresh.

Is Europe, US and the rest of the world ready to allow Greece to default and face a chaotic situation? I truly hope not. The mass media, especially within Greece is spreading terror stories of a potential Grexit. The Greek public are tired of living in uncertainty and fear and accept responsibility for their election results over the past 30 years. The majority of the Greeks claim that they want to pay back their debts, but the problem is that the present process of financial aid does not lead to recovery. On the contrary it seems to bring closer a new bailout, more measures of austerity and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

The debt is not sustainable and since last year no financial aid has been received by Greece while trying to meet its payment dates (apart from the last one). The majority of the financial aid - almost 70% - seems to have been used to support the Greek banking sector from collapsing rather than investments that would support developments of industries. Almost none of this money was directed to support social policies.

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stieglitz, amongst many, is quite critical of the EU's current financial policy. Many business executives have admitted that this policy is a mistake in the long run. Does Greece continue the current policy? If yes, then there are two options: Greece will either stay within the Eurozone and in its current coma status for some more time and it may default in the future. If no, then we might see a turn towards European solidarity and strengthening the ties of EU nations, which may open the pathway to solving many other problems in the Eurozone as well.

The important point to note here is that Greece probably should have never joined the Eurozone, and if it was supposed to leave it, then it should have happened before the ''support'' of the three constitutions. This would support the theory that Greece's problem was much larger and different in nature than any other nation in the 18 country bloc.

The EU should accept some responsibility for the major shifts in the global economic environment and the geopolitical situations along its borders. In line with the views of Angela Merkel, former US President Harry Truman warned the US congress in 1947: ''Should we fail to aid Greece [..] the effect will be far-reaching to the west as well as to the east''.

Now is the time to provide Greece with a truly sustainable aid programme that helps Greece out of intensive care. Greeks and Europeans, need a resolution, both political and economic. What is needed is a show of common sense and a move towards European consensus that would strengthen EU and unite its citizens even more but the clock is ticking.

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