This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/greece-agreement-bad-but-better-than-leaving-the-euro

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Greece agreement is 'bad but still better than leaving the euro' Greeks digest bailout: 'a bad agreement is still better than leaving the euro'
(about 9 hours later)
Almost no one in Greece likes the last-minute deal the country has struck to stay in the euro, and almost no one thinks it is fair. But it has still been welcomed with quiet relief by those who have spent nearly two weeks fearing economic disaster. Greece’s financial rescue came too late to save Dimitri’s business, but the 40-year-old reserved his anger not for the man who eventually signed off on more economic pain but the creditors who dictated the brutal terms.
“A bad agreement is still better than leaving the euro,” said Giorgios Kommata, a 53-year-old doctor, less than an hour after a 17-hour summit ended with an agreement to stop the country falling out of the single currency. “I’m not disappointed because the prime minister couldn’t have done anything else. Leaving the euro would have been much worse,” the cafe owner said as he prepared iced coffee for his only two customers. “I’m already closing next month. My income has fallen by half since 2010.”
Greece has been in painful limbo during days of high-stakes bailout negotiations with creditors, after the government banned payments abroad, shut banks and limited cash withdrawals from ATMs to €60 a day. Like many Greeks battered by five years of austerity, he struggled to grasp why other European countries were calling in debts that even the International Monetary Fund had admitted were too crippling to be paid back.
Related: Greek debt crisis: deal reached after marathon all-night summit - live
“Everyone has been following it round the clock,” said Kommata’s daughter, Chrysa, a 24-year-old student home in Athens for the summer, who fears she might not be able to find a job in Greece for decades. “We wouldn’t have been prepared for the impact of leaving the euro, but I’m not satisfied with what is going on. Both ways are hard; it’s dispiriting.”
The price of the deal is tax rises, spending cuts and siphoning off billions of euros of assets into a fund to reassure creditors their bills will be paid. It is almost certain to bring more misery to a country where half a decade of austerity has crippled the economy, and left 50% of young people without work. There had been widespread fear, however, that returning to the drachma would be even more damaging.
“I’m not disappointed because the prime minister [Alexis Tsipras] couldn’t have done anything else. Leaving the euro would have been much worse,” said cafe owner Dimitris, 40, even though the deal came far too late for him.
Years of austerity have been fatal for his business. “I’m already closing next month,” he said. “My income has fallen by half since 2010.” His only anger was reserved for the country’s creditors. “When the Germans give you money, they don’t just want it back, they want punishment. Is that the world we want to live in?”
The talks began in a mood of Greek defiance, after a snap referendum called by Tsipras resulted in a resounding no vote to more austerity. Less than a week later, after creditors made clear they would rather see Greece leave the euro than give ground, the Syriza leader accepted all their demands and was being forced to make even deeper concessions.
Related: Eurozone crisis: which countries are for or against GrexitRelated: Eurozone crisis: which countries are for or against Grexit
Withdrawing his daily allowance of €50 from a cashpoint next to the Bank of Greece in Thessaloniki, Spiros Mousionis smiled with relief at the deal. “We feel much better now,” said the 66-year-old cotton trader, already looking forward to a day when he can take out more money. “I couldn’t have imagined a Greece outside the European Union and outside the euro.” “When the Germans give you money, they don’t just want it back, they want punishment. Is that the world we want to live in?” he asked, after an overnight summit of European leaders agreed terms to prevent Greece from crashing out of the single currency.
A few kilometres away, standing outside his childrenswear factory, Konstantinos Chantizaridis said the specifics of the new deal, if passed by parliament, would hit his business hard. The owner of any business, however big or small, will have to pay corporation tax a year in advance. “We already paid 55% tax in advance, and now we have to pay 28% more on non-existent income,” Chantizaridis sighed. “But we have to pay it to support the national economy.” The talks began in a mood of Greek defiance after a resounding no to more austerity in a snap referendum called by the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras. Less than a week later, after creditors made clear they would rather see Greece leave the euro than give ground, he had accepted all their demands and was being forced to make even deeper concessions.
Even after five years of austerity, more financial pain was still the only option, he argued. “With this deal, we will keep our European passport and open up the banks – I can’t see any other advantages,” said Chantizaridis, who also doubles as the secretary-general of the Thessaloniki chamber of commerce. Although almost no one in Greece likes the last-minute deal or thinks it is fair, it has still been welcomed with quiet relief after nearly two weeks of staring down economic disaster. The country has been in painful limbo after the government banned payments abroad, shut banks and limited cash withdrawals from ATMs to €60 a day.
“But at least with this environment, we know more or less what it means. If we’d gone back to the drachma, it would be very different to going back to the drachma we had in 2000. Now the country is not producing anything, and is mostly reliant on service industries like tourism. Leaving the euro would have been very hard.” The price of a deal is tax rises, spending cuts and siphoning off billions of euros of assets into a fund to reassure creditors that their bills really will be paid. It is almost certain to bring more misery to a country where half a decade of austerity has crippled the economy and left 50% of young people without work, but there was widespread fear that returning to the drachma would be even more damaging.
“A bad agreement is still better than leaving the euro,” said Giorgios Kommata, a 53-year-old doctor.
His daughter Chrysa, 24, a student home for the summer, fears she might not be able to find a job in Greece for a decade. “We wouldn’t have been prepared for the impact of leaving the euro, but I’m not satisfied with what is going on,” she said. “Both ways are hard. I want to come back, but with the situation I don’t think it will be possible before my forties.”
Nikos Drossos, 31, who runs a lingerie shop, said solidarity had helped some of those struggling in Greece. “People understand the situation, no one has asked for the rent, to pay the bills,” he said, adding that he would accept austerity but was upset that the government’s floundering had made the economy and possibly the package even worse.
“The problem is they went into this without a plan B, so it was a game lost from the beginning,” he said. “If they didn’t have an argument or a different proposal to give to the Eurogroup, then what negotiating could they do?”
For businesses already struggling with years of slowing demand and a shrinking economy, the tax increases spelt out in the new deal mean more pain. The owner of any business, however big or small, will now have to pay corporation tax a year in advance.
“We already paid 55% tax in advance and now we have to pay 28% more on non-existent income,” sighed Konstantinos Chantizaridis, standing outside his childrenswear factory. “But we have to do it to support the national economy.”
For all it will cost him, he thought the government had made the right choice. “At least with this environment, we know more or less what it means. If we’d gone back to the drachma, it would be very different to going back to the drachma we had in 2000.”
Some government critics thought Greece had not done enough to look for alternative sources of bailout funds and said they should have done more to court powers beyond Europe.
“I feel betrayed by my country for many years now,” said Savvas Manousiadis, 52, a car mechanic who had his own workshop before the crisis. “I want us to look elsewhere, especially Russia and China. I would like to have a taste of something new. Everything is settled by the system – even Tsipras is part of the system, because there is no way he would have risen to become prime minister if not.”
Even as everyone accepted that a return to the drachma would be difficult for Greece, some of Tspiras’s critics argued that he should have put national pride and fiscal independence before short-term pain.
“I am disappointed, I feel embarrassed,” said 80-year-old Takis, drinking a morning coffee in a working-class district of north Athens. “If we still want to be proud of being Greek, it would be a good thing to make a scene, say no and leave the eurozone.”