Mr. Papandreou has just drawn the conclusion of an untenable situation for him:
1. he now has an agreement he can sell to his public opinion
2. conservatives are still refusing his offer of a government of national unity
3. the left continues to bid against austerity
4. the same goes for nationalists regarding the abandonment of sovereignity
5. he has virtually no majority in parliament
6. he has no more flexibility at European-International level
7. from today the difficult steps begin: 30.000 employees being laid off and 150.000 government jobs in question in the very short-term
8. he believes (rightly in my opinion) he has done rather a good job in two years, but that he is at the end of the possibilities of his current majority.

... So he handed the ball to the center, playing double or quits.

He certainly had advice from Wall Street and the City to move in that direction but I do not think they had a great influence. And at this stage there is such a panic on Wall Street and the City that even our apprentice sorcerers of collective hysteria are beginning to be afraid too, as they witness the first post-Euroland summit financial-bankruptcies.

I am convinced that well conducted, a referendum will could be successful. The vast majority of Greeks are aware of the importance of stakes and of the fact that it is a unique opportunity to modernize their country by forcing it to restructure as was done for the countries of Eastern Europe after the Fall of the Wall. But first there is obviously a Greek government crisis to go through, including the approval of a referendum which must be agreed on by a vote of the Greek Parliament.*

More generally, we enter the phase of the eruption of the democratic issue in the process of resolving the crisis. And Greece is only the first of a long list of countries worldwide.

As the old saying goes, "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes", but if it's a Democratic gift, though it will be difficult to manage for Euroland, it will undoubtedly be the most useful gift to ensure the sustainability of the second revival of European integration. The future trans-Euroland referendum on the Euroland management has just appeared on public radars.

While in the United States and the United Kingdom, the public opinion will find itself more and more legitimate to demand accountability from their leaders who always appear to be totally linkded to financial powers and completely disconnected from the interests of their peoples. We will see a Radicalisation of Occupy Wall Street and great strikes in the UK.

The coming months will show that the pace and speed of the crisis are now out of control of institutions / governments who still believe they can channel events. The pace of the crisis is now a matter of weekly or monthly shocks, while our institutions are still operating in quarters / years.

Franck Biancheri
Forum Anticipolis