José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, told Greek voters the €174 billion rescue programme would not be changed and that remaining in the eurozone was now in their hands. “We want Greece to remain part of our family, of the European Union, and of the euro”, Mr Barroso said. “This being said, the ultimate resolve to stay in the euro area must come from Greece itself.”
“The next election is going to be a sort of referendum election”, said one eurozone finance minister. “We are going to convey very clearly to the Greek people that if there is no stable government to implement the conditions of the programme then we are going to have difficulties and are going to have to adopt plan B.”
Although the austerity measures imposed by the bailout are unpopular, opinion polls continue to show that about three out of four Greeks want to remain in the euro, giving European leaders a strong card to play. The leaders’ strategy is similar to that taken in November when George Papandreou, then Greek prime minister, surprised European counterparts by proposing a national referendum on the just-agreed second Greek bailout.
Mr Barroso said that while the EU was ready to work with Greece to turn round its collapsing economy, any new government in Athens would have to stick to commitments in the bailout programme, noting that the political commitment to support Greece from 16 other democratically elected governments must also be respected.
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