Greek Voters Give Europe And Single Currency A Chance

Greek Elections: Voters Give Europe And Single Currency A Chance -- The Guardian

Rightwing New Democracy party hopes to lead coalition while left gains from votes against austerity

European leaders working to avert a meltdown of the single currency gained some respite when Greek voters handed a narrow victory to mainstream conservatives and the chance to forge a pro-euro and pro-bailout coalition.

In the single most closely watched election in years, which amounted to a referendum on whether Greece would become the first country to be forced out of the single currency, the anti-austerity radical Alexis Tsipras was also given a boost, increasing his share of the vote to more than 27%. On a momentous night in European politics, Greece's conservative New Democracy, under Antonis Samaras, appeared to have pulled the country back from the brink of what many feared would be a national catastrophe and averted a much deeper immediate crisis in Europe.

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More News On Today's Elections In Greece

Greek election: Live -- The Telegraph
Greek elections: live report -- AFP
Greek Election Favors Pro-Bailout Party -- New York Times
Greek conservatives win, head into coalition talks -- FOX News/AP
Greece election: pro-bailout party to attempt coalition -- BBC
Greece election: International reaction -- BBC
Greek vote only buys some time in widening euro crisis -- MSNBC
Greece’s Election Results: Déjà vu All Over Again? -- Time

My Comment: The Greek election results are in, and it looks like a coalition of "pro-euro" parties have won. And while I do believe that a coalition government will be formed in the next few days .... it will happen with the narrowest of margins.

Initial reactions have also been predictable. The Asian markets have just opened and they are overjoyed. Political leaders across the world are praising the vote and Greece's commitment to the Euro. The Central bankers are relieved.

But the vote was incredibly close. A swing of just a few points could have produced a completely different result. And what is worse .... the problems are still there. The debt is still there. The Greek economy is still in the toilet. And there is no political will (rhetoric aside) to do the structural changes necessary to inspire entrepreneurs and market forces to grow the economy in Greece.

In short .... this vote will only buy some time .... and unless the European economy starts to grow (which I doubt) I predict that within a year the situation will probably be even more grave.