Carmen P. Flores. Journalist
The crisis is hitting the poorest countries of the European Union hard; most obviously, Greece suffers the consequences of it. Earlier this year, after the most radical change in its history, the country of the great philosophers, enthusiasm and hope returned to their suffering people.
Tsipras saw the avenging sword return their honour for the severe pressures that had been induced by the troika who have ruined their lives and property. Greek citizens, mostly belonging to the middle and lower classes, have suffered the hardness of the measures imposed from Brussels in their own flesh, without governments of the political parties having always found the remedy for their prostration so far. The country is immersed in unpayable debt, and citizens are in despair, walking like zombies in the middle of a Europe that does not understand them or forgive them. So the question remains: how has this situation come about? Why has a less traumatic solution for the Greeks not been searched before?
Back in 2010, MEP Daniel-Cohn Bendit, known as Red Dani said in Parliament, that despite the crisis and the debt that was already very high, Paris and Berlin gave Athens the priority of not reducing its military spending. The same statement was reiterated German MEP born in France in 2012, but nobody paid any attention. Why? Perhaps because at the time Greece was one of the great buyers of arms of the two great European powers and changing this would not be suitable. One detail that should make us remember that there are more elements that have made the Greek crisis particularly different.
Alarms sounded on a possible exit from the Euro
When the new government came to publicly raise the issue of leaving the Euro, alarms sounded in all chanceries. Not only was Brussels against this, but also France, Germany, USA, and some other countries. They asked: in desperation, could Greece seek support from Russia? That possibility did not escape any of the leaders, and geopolitical consequences of possible Greek actions supposed. Therefore, unexpectedly, there was a change in the common strategy. It was no longer imposing the same conditions to the new government democratically elected at the polls, but to negotiate an agreed solution, in which it was clear, if only in appearance, who rules in Europe, but without trauma.
By all appearances, Tsipras has staged-managed this kind of dance of seduction and the couple is beginning to get warmed up. Much remains to be negotiated between the new Greek government and the European Union -one of the novelties to be erased from the collective memory is the word "troika"- but the conditions, which are yet to come, could be less harsh and unbearable than those until now Greek citizens have had to endure, however much they are outraged this fact makes the governments of Spain, Italy and Portugal, which will also have to make do somehow.
Throughout these pages, you will find enough material to be able to understand what is happening in Greece. The authors of the articles are recognized experts in the field. Furthermore, we will expose the role played by certain groups, especially women, who although they have been pretty much in the media shadow, have played an important role in the conflict.
How will the negotiations end? I am sure that our writers will reveal to us some of the keys that will try to resolve what has come to be known, especially in Berlin, as "the Greek problem".
