Troika returns to Athens
Experts from the EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF are expected in Athens on Friday for talks on a third bailout package. Envoys from the ESM bailout organisation will also be attending. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras has no choice but to sit down at the table with the Troika again, some commentators say. Others think he will be forced to call new elections very soon.
Syriza must resume negotiations with blackmailers
The government in Athens has no alternative but to continue negotiating with the creditors, the centre-left daily Der Standard comments resignedly: "At best Greece's ruling left-wing party [can] hope to push through an austerity programme for the next three years. At worst - and more than a few opinion leaders say this is what will realistically happen - the new austerity programme will fail. … According to the latest estimates from Athens, Greece's economy will shrink by two or more percent this year because of the prolonged tug of war with its creditors. This in turn will increase the creditors' austerity demands. The ruling left will complain about more 'blackmailing'. But it doesn't have any real alternatives."
New elections ever more likely in Athens
Despite Wednesday night's vote in the Greek parliament in favour of further reform measures unrest continues to grow in Athens, according to the centre-left Berliner Zeitung: "It was thanks to the votes from the opposition that the Greek prime minister managed to achieve a majority. Key projects such as the abolition of early retirement were dropped from the agenda with the consent of the creditors to avoid stoking discontent. There's no overlooking the rift in Tsipras's Syriza movement. Which is why it looks increasingly likely that he will have to call new elections over the summer break. And things are not likely to quieten down in the rest of Europe either. During the summer break the creditors will have to approve the third bailout package. … In this light the successful referendums in Athens are a first step on a long, difficult path back to normality. Genuine stability within the economic union, either politically or economically, is still a long way off."
Tsipras's battle against the drachma camp
To prevail over the opposition in his own ranks Tsipras should cooperate with the pro-Europeans in other parties, advises the liberal website Protagon: "The final battle between the former comrades will be vicious and politically bloody. … Only the voters can resolve this. They must decide whether they want Tsipras and his team, who prefer the path of realism, or whether they're convinced by the third-world vision of the drachma proponents. Tsipras will probably get his way. … But he will be seriously injured and incapable of making the decisions necessary to prevent a Grexit. … He must now cooperate with those political forces that believe in the country's European course."