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Greek PM abandons referendum on debt plan

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Like i said, Papandreou days are numbered. If the governing party does not force him to resign, then it would have to face the consequences of a possible default which will lead Greece into chaos.

Japan holds off investing in Greek rescue fund, just because of Papandreou's stupid decision for referendum in the worst possible time. Now he understood that he lost the gamble, but he still refuses to resign.

Mr. Papandreou, shame on you. The future of the country is uncertain, despite the dramatic efforts of France, Germany, the rest of the Eurozone members and the Greek people, who accepted huge cuts in their pensions and wages, as well as having to deal with extraordinary taxation.

Right now, Greece needs a government of consensus consisted of Greek and European technocrats until all the necessary measures are implemented. There is no other way out and both Pasok and Nea Dimokratia need to realize this before its too late.

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Not many politcians either in his party or not wanted that referendum. It could have made a bad situation worse for Greece and Europe. A big political miscalulation on Papandreou's part.

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The EU shows its dictatorial teeth!

The Eurocrats love to blather about "democracy", but when a country actually wants to ask its population about the EU plans, they put a gun to its head.

Shame, shame shame.

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WilliB - do you know what that referendum would have meant? It means asking people if they want to stay with the Euro or return to the Drahma (Greeks' old currency). It would also mean almost instant bankruptcy, with no way for the other European countries to help.

Democracy - yes, and Greeks have the longest lasting one (over 2000 years afaik, compared with the USA's less than 100 year old one) but not stupid steps. EU is not obliged (and honestly can't) help Greek in those conditions.

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Willi - here is an in-depth article on what would the referendum have meant:

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-leaving-euro-carries-massive-costs-181337877.html

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Bravo Mr. Papandreou for his successfully accomplished mission. Everything happened as I predicted here a couple of days ago and nobody saw through his plan, except for me apparently, or were the other politicians playing along with it? I didn't expect it to finish this fast but I guess he had no choice because there were too many financial losses worldwide.

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Very clever. Had most of us fooled there. A thumbs up for Foxie's astute assessment.

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Foxie san, kalimera! Usually, i agree with you but this time i don't. I see nothing clever with this "plan" which created huge financial losses as you said around the globe. I can't understand the logic behind this decision and the majority of the Greek society criticizes it.

Did he try to blackmail the opposition? The Greek people? The IMF? Germany and France? In any case, he failed miserably and now he faces the threat of not being able to remain in power any longer. Today's vote of confidence will judge whether he will remain a Prime Minister or not. In any case, the Greek public opinion is furious with this political trick.

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Sounds like a regular day in California to me.

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Yassas Antonios, I think the tactic behind it was to raise awareness among the Greek people and to unite the political parties. We take it for granted that we have 2 arms. Only by breaking one, can you fully understand what it would mean not to have one at all. Instead of everybody working out this whole situation, people were demonstrating and politicians fighting. Nothing productive happened. By shocking everybody, people finally opened their eyes. It may cost him his job but I think that in the long term he saved the whole country and with it the Euro.

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ebisen:

" It means asking people if they want to stay with the Euro or return to the Drahma (Greeks' old currency). It would also mean almost instant bankruptcy, with no way for the other European countries to help. "

Absolutely. And that is what Greece needs to get well. And it is the Greek people who should make the decision if they want to remain in Euro slavery or be free again! Sheesh.

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Ebisen:

" Willi - here is an in-depth article on what would the referendum have meant: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-leaving-euro-carries-massive-costs-181337877.html "

That article is not "in debth" at all, but very shallow. It makes the false assumptions that a) Greece can ever pay back its current debts and that b) by remaining under the Euro yoke the Greek economy can ever recovers.

It is like your writer copied this "analysis" directly from Brussel press statements. Please find better sources.

In the event, everything that is happening now has been predicted by the Eurocritics from the start. Realitiy proves them right.

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Papandreou was summoned ...

for a spanking

where the visibly irate French and German leaders said any referendum would in fact be a question of whether Greece retains its cherished membership

So it's blackmail then. And where's the democracy? Not a penny of the bailout money goes to the Greek people but they have to pay it back. The bailout money is being taken from the German taxpayer to pay off the banks via the Greek government. The Greek people should do what the Icelanders did and repudiate the debt.

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Obviously, stabilizing the situation as rapidly as possible has priority, but I'd like to see more discussion on what to do after the dust has settled. I've never been to Greece (or Italy), but I've heard that corruption, both political and corporate, is endemic to both countries. This costs both countries immensely.

Perhaps a long-term, intensive program to reduce corruption and improve governance quality should be a requirement for continued participation in the Euro. All would benefit if such a program succeeded.

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I agreed with Laguna. I lived in Europe for over 10 yrs, and saw many corruptions in many parts of Italy and Spain. (I did not live in Greece.) I am beginning to wonder if all the bail out money would ever go to the hands of people. Government reform is much needed for true democracy for Italy and Spain.

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I agree with both readers above.

I think the tactic behind it was to raise awareness among the Greek people and to unite the political parties.

Well, apparently, he didn't succeed in either. Yes, there are talks about a government of consensus, but only because he made things for Greece so dangerous that there is no other choice right now...

And now Greece faces the danger of not receiving the 8 bn disbursement that was necessary in order to pay pensions and salaries. Like i said, Papandreou should be arrested for this irresponsible decision.

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Antonios_M

If Greece had its own currency and central bank, there would not be the threat of bankruptcy. It could always monetize itself out of the problem.

Stuck in the Euro, you now have to give up national souvereignity and become a dependent protectorate of Brussels.

After being a provice in the Ottoman empire for hundreds of years, you can now go back to slavery. Isn´t the Euro project great?

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I can clearly understand the Greek PM's logic.....

His country is going bankrupt. He "asked" EU for help to bail Greece out. EU decided to bail him out. He then had a thought, "oh wait a min, let's spread these 'responsibilities' to more people, so just in case if my people wanted to blame someone in the future, I would say 'hey, you chose to do it yourself; you voted for it!!!'" So the point is not to save Greece from this crisis but to save his party from being blamed for Greek's bankrupcy!!!
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ICBM70:

You forget that that a) those "bailouts" for Greece come with brutal conditions (basically, Merkel wants to dictate financial and social police to Greece), and b) the bailout money does not go to Greece, it goes directly to the lender banks to which Greece owes money.

It is not a bailout for Greece, it is a bailout for (mainly French) banks. And Greece will become like a colony to Brussels in the process.

Don´t you think the population should have a say in this? Like... umm... kind of the idea of democracy?

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Hi Wil,

I do agree with you that those harsh conditions might have caused Greek PM to come up with this sorta idea. But, if Greece were not in this crisis in the first place, this bailout would never happen!! Begger can't be chooser right? Sure, French banks lended tons of money to Greece, and they need their government to bailout Greece, but if Greece were such righteous nation, it would never trouble French banks.

You know what, U.S government "invested" my tax money into GM bailout, I think GM should have put on a referendum too. But again, this will never happened, since U.S government officials were elected by the people, they represent us; therefore, any decision they made were representation of us.......even if a voter like me said no, they would not give a dam.

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ICBM70Nov. 05, 2011 - 04:43AM JST. You know what, U.S government "invested" my tax money into GM bailout, I think GM should have put on a referendum too. But again, this will never happened, since U.S government officials were elected by the people, they represent us; therefore, any decision they made were representation of us.......even if a voter like me said no, they would not give a dam.

I wouldn't call it an investment. U.S. goverment basically "stole" away annual $900 billion dollars that was to be paid directly to the pension of average retired GM workers who put in 20-30 years of their life. The reduction of pension basically reduced the goverment liabilities and made GM survive.

The goverment of Greece is basically filing banruptcy and they are looking for long term solution. The creditors, primarily from France and Germany is bascially offering 50 percent discount from their books. Even with the reorganization of payment schedule, this might not be enough. I doubt Greece could ever pay off the balance of their loans.

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Corection of above. $900 million dollars, not billion.

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ICBM70:

" Begger can't be chooser right? "

But a beggar can still be proud and make a new start, instead of getting into infinite indebted servitude.

Look at how Iceland handled their financial meltdown: A haircut for the bankers, a stinky finger to the IMF, and a massive devaluation of their OWN national currency. And now, Iceland is on the way up again. That is way to go.

Had they gone the way that the IMF and Merkozy wanted (join the Euro zone and endless bailout loans), they would be in the hole that Greece is now.

Take a look at Iceland, Greece.

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