Greece to hold referendum on EU bailout

[ColinZeal]

Dude has a majority of 1, and several MPs threatening to rebel. Resigning may actually help, if they can get the whole coalition behind the new guy.

[ieya]

Or, cynically, there's no way he could be allowed to continue in power having threatened to give the people of Greece an actual say in what happens to them.

The EU and democracy don't mix...

[frogurt]

Originally Posted by ieya

Or, cynically, there's no way he could be allowed to continue in power having threatened to give the people of Greece an actual say in what happens to them.

The EU and democracy don't mix...

Allowed by whom?

[Peregrine]

Parliament, I imagine. The people who can kick the PM out of power.

[Moldywart]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Parliament, I imagine. The people who can kick the PM out of power.

I don't think they can. They can hold a no-confidence vote, but if that passes, the likely result would be snap elections; in most european countries the head of state decides how to proceed (probably by either dissolving parliament and hold or elections, or dismissing the administration). Now, theoretically, in greece that would be the president, however that office has almost no practical relevance or power, which makes the "real" head of state... the prime minister.

[frogurt]

Papandreou survived the confidence vote.

Originally Posted by NY Times

The confidence vote was essentially cast as a vote on the debt agreement reached with European leaders in Brussels last week, and its passage suggested that Parliament was likely to formally approve the deal. It also appeared to clear the way for Greece to receive the next installment of aid, $11 billion, next month; Greek officials have said that without the additional funds, the country would run out of money to cover expenses by mid-December.

Had Mr. Papandreou lost the vote, his government would have been brought down, throwing the debt agreement into jeopardy and possibly leading to a Greek default and its departure from the euro zone, the 17 nations in the European Union that use the currency. The prime minister’s volatile moves during the week appear to have succeeded in averting those events, at least for now.

[Moldywart]

This is one of those times where I get the strong feeling that what is being reported isn't the whole story.

Contrary to popular belief, politicians usually aren't idiots, so I don't think Papandreou dropped that referendum bomb for shits and giggles, and wasn't oblivious to the reaction it would get from both within and without either.

Giving up on it so easily makes me suspect he squeezed a few more concessions out of the EU (read: germany&france) behind closed doors, which was probably the whole idea. If he really wanted the referendum, he'd have shored up support in parliament for the idea first instead of simply charging ahead.

[ieya]

And isn't it fairly disgusting that the EU is doing things which it quite obviously knows are not what its peoples actually want (witness the desparate avoidance of actually consulting the Greek people in a referendum here)?

[ColinZeal]

On the other hand, one might argue that the EU acting to prevent a flaming death spiral of the entire European economy isn't entirely a bad thing.

But sure, every time the government needs to do something unpopular, let's have a referendum. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.

[Kaete]

Originally Posted by ColinZeal

But sure, every time the government needs to do something unpopular, let's have a referendum. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.

Certainly nothing wrong with California using this method, no sir.