Athens' reform plans under scrutiny
Experts of the EU Commission, ECB and IMF will assess the list of reforms presented by the Greek government today, Tuesday. The euro finance ministers will then decide this afternoon whether to approve further bailout payments. But the devil is in the detail as regards the implementation of the reforms, commentators warn, and observe that Greece is worse off after the compromise with its creditors than before.
Creditors need numbers, not theories
The fight for Greece has only just begun with the presentation of the list of proposed reforms, the conservative daily Naftemporiki believes: "The ceasefire is over, and today the government will once again step onto the 'battlefield'. ... The fact that it's as good as certain that the reform list will be accepted doesn't mean a thing. Because the real challenge is only starting. The institutions - that is the EU, IMF and ECB - don't want theory, they want numbers. They want to see measures introduced. ... Even working on the assumption that they won't call for new austerity measures and will accept the entire package of humanitarian aid, they'll want to see a detailed cost calculation of how the 'black holes' can be filled in."
Greece in a worse position than before
Athens is in an worse position after reaching a provisional agreement with the Euro Group than it was before, the liberal daily Diário Económico concludes: "The confrontations of the last few weeks have hurt Athens and the euro - and what for? Syriza has been forced to scrap its election and government agenda, return to the troika's embrace, and now it must deliver. ... In short: everything is as it was before except that the yields on three-year Greek government bonds have risen by 20 percent, the Greeks are taking even more money out of their bank accounts, the banks are on the brink of bankruptcy and foreign investors will be even more reluctant to return. And worse still, Syriza had encouraged such great expectations that the Greeks' sense of self-worth - even that of the most radical and militant - has now hit rock bottom. Syriza promised a lot but will deliver little. The fact is that reality is stronger than imagination."
Here's to the rebellious Greeks
The tug of war between the new Greek government and its EU partners shows that Syriza is at least putting up a fight to achieve its goals, the left-liberal daily The Irish Times writes in appreciation: "After years of flailing around, Greece is providing an interesting test case. There's something very appealing about Greece's current rebellious streak. Everyone loves a rebel, an underdog and a comeback, and Greece is now two of those. ... Syriza seems at least to be pushing for something. There is an inherent attraction to watching a country in the euro zone seek its sovereignty, especially from an Irish perspective since control over our own affairs was outsourced."
Euro crisis a struggle between rich and poor
The conflict lines in the euro crisis do not run between nations, as one might think, but between social groups, the liberal business paper La Tribune contends: "The dividing line that really counts, and which must be clearly identified so it be combated more effectively, is the one that separates the business world and financial elites (who have for the most part benefited before, during and after the crisis) from the masses of middle-class employees and workers in Germany, France, Greece and other countries. In other words, within Europe a merciless war is raging between economic groups and castes, and not between nations. To understand this is to already take a step towards a solution while hindering the rise of the far right."