Perhaps then the referendum wasn’t such a surprise as everyone makes out.

“A referendum could make it easier for leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to climb down on election promises that are making a deal on economic reforms hard to achieve”

The key thing would be to make sure the referendum produced the right result.

Germany, in shift, says Greek referendum on reform could help

Channel News Asia(Reuters)

EU paymaster Germany said on Monday it could make sense for Greece to hold a referendum on painful economic reforms under negotiation with its creditors, changing tack as Berlin’s own lawmakers bridle at further aid for Athens.

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Just when Greece requires clarity and direction they have got Alexis Tsipras. Whatever he is attempting to do he is creating a fine mess. It’s a good idea in principle to put any agreement with the Troika to a referendum but there was no agreement. Now he wants to agree on most of the “agreement” which he is calling on people to reject on Sunday. According to La Repubblica he told Martin Schulz leader of the European parliament that he hoped for a “Yes” vote.  “Eurozone officials said they were baffled by the mixed messages coming from Greece.” Meanwhile, leftist luminaries in Britain such as  MacWhirter are hailing the “No” vote as the rejection of the Eurozone  Is that, despite his claims to the contrary, Tsipras’ real goal. If Tsipras doesn’t want to wreck the European project we are left with the unlikely conclusion that the European leadership do.

FT

Greece’s prime minister accused Europe’s leaders of attempting to “blackmail” Greek voters, just hours after apparently holding out an olive branch to the country’s creditors by accepting most of the terms of the economic reform plan they had tabled last weekend.

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Xinhua

1st July, 2015

ATHENS, July 1 (Xinhua) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appeared defiant in a televised message to the nation on Wednesday as Greece became the first advanced economy in decades in arrears status to the International Monetary Fund, moving closer to the brink of default and a possible Grexit.

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If, as is widely rumoured, the IMF intervened to wreck negotiations between the Greek government and European institutions the the real question Europeans should be voting on is one of European sovereignty. What the hell is the IMF doing in what should be an internal European issue? The question , of course, is purely rhetorical: they are there to oversee Wall Street/City of London interests. Unlike China and the merging BRICS, these interests are not pro-European in terms of supporting European integration. Rather they support a neo-liberal Europe, that is, a Europe a Europe which fragments along lines determined by “the market”. You have only to read the press, almost entirely under their control, to see this. They will also be quite happy with the Left’s superficial anti-imperialist rhetoric concerning Greek relations with Germany: it’s all grist to the mill. Once again, as in Kosovo, as in Libya, as in Ukraine, Europe’s inability to break free of Wall Street tutelage is causing Europe to shoot itself in the foot, if not the heart. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, negotiations will resume and the effect of Tsipra’s gambit may be salutary if the lesson is learnt and the IMF are shown the door.

Telegraph

29th June, 2015

Apparently, there was the basis for a deal at some stage last week; but then at the last moment, in comes the International Monetary Fund to say that the conditions were not enough, and insist on the addition of a whole series of demands on pensions reform that were bound to be unacceptable to Greece’s Syriza-led government.

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Summary: The ECB has not cut off funding to Greece but it has failed to increase it. The position of the Bundesbank is more hardline: they call for an end to all ECB emergency funding now. In the event of a “Yes” vote funding will be resumed and increased. A “No” vote would make further funding impossible and Greece would have to print its own currency, a step towards leaving Eurozone

La BCE prise entre deux feux

Le Monde

29th June, 2015

Le pire cauchemar de Mario Draghi, le président de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE), est peut-être sur le point de se réaliser. Dimanche 28 juin au soir, le premier ministre grec Alexis Tsipras a placé l’institution sur le banc des accusés, aux côtés des ministres des finances de la zone euro. « Les récentes décisions de l’Eurogroupe et de la BCE n’ont qu’un objectif : réprimer la volonté du peuple grec », a dénoncé M. Tsipras sur le réseau social Twitter, peu après avoir annoncé la fermeture des banques et l’instauration du contrôle des capitaux.
En savoir plus 

Summary: The EU Commission is divided: Moscovici calls for a compromise and a reformed Eurozone”without austerity”.US pushes for resumption of negotiations. Moscovici has tried to bounce Junker into making concessions: Juncker has resisted. Hardliners rumored to seek demise of Syria government. Moscovici says agreement is within reach and hopes Greek government support “Yes” vote, already a vain wish. Italian economy minister unconcerned about fallout from crisis citing anti-speculation measures in place which were not there in 2011.

Caos Grecia, si divide la Commissione europea. Moscovici: “Nuove proposte”. Juncker: “No”

La Repubblica

29th June, 2015

MILANO – Trattare fino all’ultimo per impedire l’uscita della Grecia dall’euro. La richiesta ai creditori di Atene è arrivata direttamente dalla Casa Bianca: il segretario di Stato Jack Lew ha chiesto di valutare con attenzione la ristrutturazione del debito greco, a patto che Atene prosegua sulla strada delle riforme. Un messaggio colto al volo dal Commissario Ue agli Affari economici, il francese Pierre Moscovici che gioca il ruolo della colomba: “Bisogna trovare un compromesso. La porta per il negoziato è aperta. Io sono per una Grecia riformata nell’Eurozona, senza austerità”.

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… No one knows. But he wants it now

Guardian

26th June, 2015

I enjoy watching David Cameron at European summits. He has the air of an actor in an advert playing someone in an important job. You know the sort of thing: you watch them move purposefully through a buzzy office pointing at things before they turn brusquely to the camera and declare: “I work in a fast-paced environment where every decision counts. I demand performance from an antiperspirant.”

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