As Greece heads to a referendum on Sunday that could decide its future in the Euro Zone, long queues at cash machines have become the most potent symbol of the cost of the deadlock between the left-wing government and its international lenders.
With banks closed for a fourth day and capital controls in place, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tied his fate to the outcome of the vote, saying he would resign if the government's call for a ‘no’ to the bailout terms were ignored. The future of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would be similarly in doubt.
As queues lengthened outside ATMs and banks, one senior banker said: “We might run out of banknotes by Tuesday if people keep taking out €60 a day.”
Mindful of the fact that many older Greeks do not use credit or debit cards and so do not have access to cash machines, the government has ordered 1,000 banks to open across the country to pay out a maximum of €120 and issue cards. But in the process it has created a compelling reminder of the costs its confrontation with the lenders is inflicting on a society already deeply scarred by more than five years of harsh austerity imposed under successive bailout accords.
“In line for a handful of euros,” the conservative Eleftheros Typos newspaper headlined on Thursday. “The dignity promised by Tsipras turns into humiliation for thousands of pensioners.”
“People have lost it completely. And it's all the fault, one hundred per cent, of all the politicians. They are to blame for the situation we are in now,” rued a pensioner Thanos Stamou.
‘No levy on deposits’
To reassure voters, State Minister Nikos Pappas, one of Tsipras’ closest aides, denied speculation that the government would impose a levy on bank deposits. He insisted that banks would reopen “the minute we get a clear result”, although bankers are increasingly sceptical that this will be possible by Tuesday unless the European Central Bank lifts the ceiling on emergency funding it provides.
High stakes for Tsipras
For Tsipras, the stakes are high. His government is expected to fall if voters back a bailout plan which he has rejected as a “humiliation” for Greece. Already, his coalition is crumbling as a succession of deputies from the right wing Independent Greeks party, his junior partners have thrown their weight behind the ‘Yes’ vote.
In people’s hands
On Sunday, then, it will fall to the Greek people to decide an issue that their government was unable to settle in months of acrimonious negotiations with their European partners. “The future of Greece is in the hands of the Greek people,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch Chairman of the Eurogroup of Euro Zone Finance Ministers.
“If the outcome is positive, then there is naturally, on the European side, the willingness to help Greece out of the gutter,” he said. “If the result is negative, then the future will be a lot more complicated.”
The only full poll to be released since the referendum was announced at the weekend showed the ‘No’ vote ahead but with support slipping sharply and the ‘Yes’ camp rising after the announcement that banks would be shut.
Financial markets, which have been relatively unmoved by the crisis were more nervous on Thursday, with the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy hitting their highest levels in several months.