The sovereignty question

SO IT came to pass that on October 27 Greece was placed under the supervision of its European partners, as part of a grand deal to convince banks to erase billions of euros in Greek debt. It is indeed an eerie coincidence that the deal was hammered out on the eve of the day Greece traditionally celebrates the refusal (Ochi) of dictator Ioannis Metaxas to buckle under pressure from Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and allow the passage of Italian troops on Greek soil, thus ceding national sovereignty. Despite the analogy, international markets sighed with relief after the agreement to write down Greek debt and to boost the firepower of the European bailout fund. And by the looks of it, Greece has, for now at least, averted a potentially catastrophic bankruptcy - and the battle to save the euro goes on. But for many observers, right, left and centre of the political spectrum the cost is too high for Greece if that means ceding authority to European overseers. They have dismissed, outright, the presence of the European Commission task force to oversee the implementation of the sale of Greek state assets and the country’s civil service, calling it a new form of colonialism. On the other hand, as lenders see it, “Greeks must accept that formal authority is not in Greece’s hands.” The bitter truth of the matter is that many eurozone officials say the Greek choice was between supervision and not getting the money. For European capitals, ensuring that the Greeks stick to the harsh austerity linked to continued bailout funds and the writing off of Greek debt is of paramount importance if the wider European experiment is not to collapse. The stakes are just too high, and with the thinking that it was the Greeks, in the first place, that got themselves in this mess, the idea has picked up momentum. Greece’s poor track record of responsible management has not helped. Many prominent Greeks are speaking up loudly against any form of supervision and are blasting the government’s handling of the crisis. But it’s no use now to start pointing the finger of blame for the perceived loss of Greece’s sovereignty. Given the nature of its predicament, the only thing Greece can now do is to ensure that radical reforms and privatisation programmes, allowing for growth, are pushed through. The faster this is done, the sooner the yoke of international lenders will be lifted. Besides, the debate on whether Greece is really being reduced to a protectorate is far from over. As leading Athens University professor Yiannis Drosos puts it, “National sovereignty is not (necessarily) at stake when we are getting money.”