Greek Crisis: Deal Reached, “Gratigue” Finally Over

Greek and Eurozone leaders are notably exhausted after a month of brinkmanship and bitter negotiations. Sunday, June 12 brought the final deadline for Greece to reach a bailout deal with its Eurozone creditors. Without coming to an agreement involving Greek reforms for European cash, the crisis-ridden Mediterranean nation would be pushed out of the Eurozone.

Negotiations lasted 17 hours, well into the night and past the June 12 deadline. But early Monday morning EU Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: “EuroSummit has unanimously reached agreement. All ready to go for ESM programme for #Greece with serious reforms & financial support.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker followed by telling members of the media that “there will not be a ‘Grexit.’”

Early reports say that the agreement will allocate EUR 86 billion to Greece in bailout funds over the next three years. In exchange, the Greek government has pledged to implement a basket of reforms including pension reform, the opening of closed professions, privatizing the electricty transmission network and paring down the public administration, among others. The toughest pill to swallow for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s left-wing Syriza party may be the privatization of a EUR 50 billion pool of state assets. The government will place proceeds from the sale, at Germany’s insistence, into a fund that will be used primarily for paying down debt.

The Greek negotiating team accepted the bailout and its harsh terms. But the deal must now be ratified by the Greek Parliament, many of whose left-wing members have expressed stern opposition to the bailout. Parliament has been given by the end of Wednesday to accept the agreement in full. In addition, the government has pledged to immediately enact spending cuts, tax hikes and pension reforms. Bailout funds will not be dispersed until these initial conditions are met.

More from Joseph Larsen in this Friday's edition of Georgia Today.

Photo shows Pro-European Greeks demonstrating in front of the Parliament in Athens on 9 June 2015.

Joseph Larsen