A deadline was once a tangible thing. During the American Civil War, soldiers told captives that if they strayed beyond a certain distance from the prison camp, they would be shot. That distance marked the dead line.
As the word has passed from the literal to the figurative, it lost much of its original, deadly finality. And at no time have supposed deadlines been crossed with such wanton regularity as during Greece’s protracted bailout negotiations in recent months.
At the risk of saying “this time it’s different” … this time it’s different. Or so say Greece’s creditors. They set a Sunday (July 12) deadline to sign a new cash-for-reforms agreement; if the two sides can’t agree on a deal at an emergency EU summit on that day, Greece’s cash-strapped banks will be cut loose from emergency financing, promptly collapse, and set the country on the agonizing path to Grexit (an exit from the euro zone).
“Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines… I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week,” European Council president Donald Tusk said earlier this week. “All of us are responsible for the crisis and all of us have a responsibility to resolve it.”
But after all this time, can the Greek financial crisis in fact be resolved in the next few days? It depends who you ask…
“…we want to be able to pay back what we have borrowed. And when we ask for debt reduction, we ask for this reduction exactly because we want to be able to make good on those loans and not to be constantly obliged to seek new loans in order to repay previous loans.”
“There can be no question of a haircut.”
“We have always advised that a program needs two legs: reforms and debt restructuring. That view has not changed.”
“Our proposals focus on real reforms, which aim at changing Greece.”
“How do you want to be remembered? As an electoral accident who made its people poorer? Or as a real revolutionary reformer? Show that you are a real leader and not a false prophet.”
“We reiterate the Greece’s commitment to remain a member of the Eurozone and to respect the rules and regulations as a member state.”
“Allowing Greece to exit the euro zone would be an admission of impotence. France refuses that.”
“The Greek economy is on the edge of catastrophe… there could be riots… and chaos.”
“The commission is prepared for everything… We have a Grexit scenario, prepared in detail.”
“There’s a lot of unknowns if this goes to a place that completely melts down in Greece … it’s geopolitically a mistake.”
“We can achieve an agreement on Sunday… I’m not pessimistic.”
“A solution has to be found by Sunday. One way or the other.”
