[Admirala]

The New Athenian:

The referendum was never intended to happen, or truly to give the Greeks a chance to reject austerity. And most voters seem to have known this. They fully understood that they would suffer austerity either way, so they decided to use the referendum as a symbolic “up yours” to Merkel.

Now we are back to business, on the basis of the same document. But Tsipras thinks he may now make it palatable by enriching it in three ways: a) by extending it to a three-year financing period, b) by accompanying it with a 35bn euro development package from the European Commission, c) by accompanying it with a rescheduling of Greek debt. The International Monetary Fund has said that Greece needs a 20-year grace period followed by a 40-year repayment schedule. It currently has a 7-year grace period followed by a 16-year repayment period. If Tsipras brings the rescheduling home, he will have fixed the biggest problem of the bailout.