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Anastasia Balezdrova

The meeting of finance ministers of the euro zone member states on Greece is underway and the country is in the most critical position after the beginning of the crisis. If the negotiations with the lenders were unsuccessful, the risk of Greece remaining without funding and even leaving the euro zone would be significant.

At the same time, the new Greek government, which was elected to keep its promise to end the policy of austerity, has already begun to step back from the so-called "red" lines and the probability of the 19 European finance ministers failing to agree on the extension of the bailout is far from being great, but it is not small either.

In Greece, however, the rhetoric with which SYRIZA has won the elections continues to dominate. Although in his yesterday's letter to the Eurogroup President Yanis Varoufakis states that Greece will not take unilateral action, many of his colleagues in the cabinet insist that the party will keep all its campaign promises.

The issue of the actual scale of the negotiations between Greece and the European Union was the subject of another discussion, which was held at the Institute of Diplomacy and Global Affairs in Athens. According to Honorary Professor of Economics and member of the scientific commission at the parliamentary budgetary service Panos Kazakos, an agreement between Greece and its lenders is possible but there are major differences in the positions of both sides at present. "The Greek government finds it difficult to explain to its electorate the concessions regarding its pre-election promises and its partners find it difficult to explain the possible compromise to their voters."

In his words, SYRIZA had electrified the atmosphere before the elections so much that now it finds it difficult even to say the word "consensus", "but huge problems lie behind the words."

According to Kazakos, SYRIZA is already adjusting to reality. "Certainly, it is difficult, but we already see signs of it. Meanwhile, however, they continue to poison the atmosphere of negotiations with expressions and insults to the partners and this must stop, because it can create serious problems in the future."

The economics professor pointed out once again that the memorandum, which so many Greeks detest, is nothing more than a programme to stabilise the Greek economy. "It provides for reforms aimed at reducing government intervention in economy, bringing order in public finances, liberalising labour market, reducing tax evasion. I would say that the measures are similar to those that were applied in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe after the fall of the regimes there."

His explanation of the successful implementation of the reforms in Eastern Europe, while in Greece it has been impossible for four years now, was, "In these countries, society was totally estranged from the system, it longed for a radical change in it, whereas in Greece the majority of society lived well in it and it has no interest in reforming it."

According to him, the previous Greek governments had implemented a very small part of the reforms. "There were always arrangements with various groups the interests of which would be affected. Furthermore, the implementation of piecemeal reforms could not be effective if the overall business environment remained unchanged."

Kazakos said that some of the activities planned in the programme declaration of the new cabinet were in the right direction, such as the changes in local government, turning the detention centres for immigrants into open accommodation centres and giving Greek citizenship to second-generation immigrants. "On the other hand, most of their positions are totally wrong. The mere campaign slogan against budget cuts at a time when we were ready for concessions was totally inappropriate," he said.

In turn, economics professor and member of the new Greek Parliament Antigone Lyberaki described the position of the Greek government in the negotiations with the lenders to Greece as an application of game theory. "So far we have played the so-called "chicken game", which in essence is to succeed to apply the brake after your opponent so that you do not turn out to be the loser because you are scared. I am afraid that the "two prisoners dilemma" will now be applied that is the known explanation in game theory of why the two parties in a critical situation may become losers if they pursue their own interests, instead of negotiating the intersection of the common interest."

For Lyberaki, reaching an agreement is important, but "what we ourselves want Greece to be" is more important. "Financing, compliance with the objective of primary budget surplus and measures for economic recovery will be required in the coming months. And the agreement itself must prevent non-compliance. The previous political system bet namely on the failure to implement the reforms, and they are the only path for Greece. Just one look at the countries outside Europe is sufficient to convince us that we have no future without it," she said.