Is Germany Capable of Treating Greece in a Civilized Manner?

"Greece leaves behind it five years of catastrophic austerity, five years of fear and authoritarianism, of humiliation and anguish." Those were the words of the new Greek Prime Minister, in his first address outside the Greek parliament after his swearing-in. As an atheist, he became the first Greek prime minister to be sworn in without the traditional oath and blessing of basil and water from the Greek Archbishop. But Tsipras embraced the Archbishop after his swearing in before he left the ceremony. And, importantly, Tsipras' words were preceded by his first act. He laid red roses at the National Resistance Memorial in the Athens suburb of Kaisariani. The site, a former rifle range, was where the Nazis executed 200 Greek communist resistance fighters on 1 May 1944. Do not mistake the significance of this act. Greeks have once more learned to detest Germany, and foremost Chancellor Merkel and Finance Minister Schnaeuble. Today, the young Greek politician delivered a message to Germany, to Merkel, to Schnaeuble, to the European Union. Humiliation is not acceptable. The destruction of Greece is not acceptable. ~~~~~ Many commentators are treating Alexis Tsipras as a character who leaped off a political cartoon to be elected. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Alexis Tsipras has been a political figure since he was a teenager in Athens. Born on 28 July 1974, three days after the fall of the Greek military junta, Tsipras studied civil engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, followed by postgraduate studies in Urban and Regional Planning to earn an inter-departmental Masters at itsvSchool of Architecture. He began working as a civil engineer and wrote several studies and projects on the theme of the city of Athens. He joined the Young Communists Society in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, as a high school student, he rose to prominence as a representative of the student movement when he was featured as a guest on a TV show. As a university student, he joined the ranks of the renovative left-wing movement, "Enceladus" and was elected to the executive board of the students' union of the Civil Engineering School of NTUA, serving as student representative in the University Senate. From 1995 to 1997, he was an elected member of the Central Council of the National Students Union of Greece. After the departure of the Communist Party of Greece from Synaspismos, Tsipras remained in the party as the first political secretary of the youth-wing of Synaspismos Neolaia from 1999 to 2003. Despite the very clear radical, left-wing profile that he has maintained as Leader of Synaspismos, he was a centrist during his period of leadership in Neolaia. He managed quite efficiently to maintain a strong adherence to party policy, effectively out-voicing political members to the left and the right. In December 2004, at the 4th Congress of Synaspismos, he was elected a member of the party's Central Political Committee and later to the Political Secretariat. Tsipras first entered the limelight of mainstream Greek politics during the 2006 local election when he ran for the municipality of Athens under the "Anoihti Poli" SYRIZA ticket that gained 10.51% of the Athenian vote. He did not run for the Hellenic Parliament in the 2007 election, choosing to complete his term as a member of the Athens municipal council. He was elected Leader of Synaspismos during the 5th Congress in 2008, becoming Leader of Synaspismos at the age of 33, thus becoming the youngest ever leader of a Greek political party. In the 2009 election, he was elected to the Hellenic Parliament for Athens and was unanimously elected as the head of the SYRIZA parliamentary group. Tsipras led SYRIZA through the 2012 Greek elections, overseeing a swing of over 22% toward the party,l and becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Tsipras led SYRIZA to victory in yesterday's snap general election, receiving 36% of the vote and 149 out of the 300 seats in the Parliament. Make no mistake, Alexis Tsipras is a vetted poitician, ready to lead Greece, even if he is only 40. ~~~~~ Tsipras formed his parliamentary majority today by a surprise alliance with a small right-wing nationalist party, the Independent Greeks, which is opposed to immigration. The two parties are ideological opposites, sharing only their opposition to the bailout, so their coalition was a surprise, but today it nevertheless boosted European markets that had fallen on news of the non-conclusive election results and fear of the need for a second election. ~~~~~ But, the election in Greece of a radical party that wants to overhaul the country's bailout program raises questions for the eurozone. Trying to make the best of it, several European creditor nations hinted they will seek a compromise to avoid the sure disaster to the eurozone if Greece were to abandon the euro. Several leaders in the 19-country eurozone suggested they were open to discussing how to lighten Greece's debt burden -- which has since 2010 mounted to 240 billion euros ($270 billion) in loans from fellow eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund to keep Greece from falling into bankruptcy. Syriza is calling on the eurozone to ease the spending cuts and tax increases required in Greece's bailout program and also to lighten the country's rescue loans. The debt, at 175% of GDP, is at a level that many economists think is unmanageable and unsustainable. It was imposed by the other eurozone nations, led by Germany, in exchange for the loans. The tough spending cuts and tax hikes were meant to reduce debt but have also put the Greek economy through a depression, causing : (1) high unemployment - now at 27% overall and above 50% for young people, and (2) poverty - 30% of Greeks are at or below the poverty level because the eurozone demanded that the minimum wage be reduced to a bit more than 500 euros per month. Already today, there were outstretched eurozone hands. The Dutchman who chairs the eurozone finance ministers committee said that even though "there is very little support for debt write-offs," there is room to "come back to debt sustainability issues" in the future. He stressed "if necessary." His views were echoed by the leader of Finland, a country that has long been among the most unmovable on austerity issues, who offered help. Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said that even if he opposes forgiving Greece's debts outright, he would be prepared to discuss extending loan repayments. Belgium's finance minister likewise said there was some room to discuss the "modalities" to ease the Greek debt program. ~~~~~ But, regional heavyweight Germany has so far taken a hard line on debt in Europe, and particularly in Greece. Today, Germany was non-committal beyond stressing that commitments needed to be kept. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has continualy insisted that there will be no forgiving of Greek debt. Other Merkel coalition members have said that Greeks cannot expect German taxpayers to absorb their debt. One said that Greeks can vote for whomever they want, but the debt must be paid. But, others who are not part of the Merkel political coalition welcomed the news. Bernd Riexinger, one of the leaders of the German left wing party Die Linke, said that Syriza’s victory “means the beginning of a new politics not just in Greece but in the rest of Europe.” In a tweet, he hailed Syriza’s “historic victory” as a rejection of “Merkel’s destruction” ~~~~~ Dear readers, today CNN made this comparison. If Germany had been forced into a "Greek deal" : its unemployment would be at 11 million - it is now at 2 million; and its debt would be 6.5 trillion euros, or 200% of its GDP - Greece's is now at 175% of GDP. But, I prefer another comparison. At the end of World War II, Germany was in a shambles. It had for the second time in the 20th century driven Europe and the world to war. It had accepted the Nazis and formed their armies. It had watched, silent, as 7 million Jews and other minorities were exterminated. Its military had terrorized and raped Europe, taking its men, resources and art treasures. Was Germany told to pull itself up and restore Europe singlehandedly. No. The American Marshall Plan rebuilt Germany and much of Europe. Fast forward to today. Has Greece brought the world to war, or massacred any minority groups? Not at all. What Greeks did was to follow disastrous fiscal policies presented by inept politicians. So, when Greece, the cradle of civilization, not its would-be destroyer, needs help, how should Germany respond. We all know what the civilized answer is. The real question is whether Germany can rise from its past and give a civilized answer.