Yes or No this is the big question

After months of negotiations, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum on the country’s bailout programme, asking from people to  vote yes or no to austerity and economic measures, but Europe insists that “No”  could not bring a prosperous future for Greek people and will lead the country to political and economic isolation.

On the one side Greek government expressing overtly a “No” strategy believing that it is the right time to put an end to austerity and poverty. As Alexis Tsipras said Greece is calling to vote for its future and that he will respect every democratic decision, but he says that if Greeks approve the EU’s aid plan, Syriza will resign. “Democracy deserved a boost in euro-related matters. We just  delivered it. Let people decide”, wrote in his personal accounts on Twitter, Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

On the other side, ECB and IMF argue that the fear of Grexit is more eminent than never and urge yes vote. They put the blame on Greek government saying that the Greek team was insufficient during negotiations in Brussels. Moreover, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said he feels betrayed by Alexis Tsipras and believes that Greek will say yes to Europe yes to development. Additionally, Great Britain, Germany and France have a common stance on Greek crisis and try to imagine the best plan for the safety of Eurozone.

The truth is that the Greek economy  goes from bad to worse and the economic crisis is getting stronger and stronger and people have done many economic sacrifices for a stronger tomorrow, but this has never come. While the International Monetary Fund  is insisting that Greece needs to adopt new austerity measures, more than one million people live under the poverty line. According to the Hellenic Statistics Authority (ELSTAT), Greece’s unemployment rate is continuing to increase, reaching 27.6 % percent in June 2015. It is very sad that 21,000 people are homeless,  the vast majority of them is young people of working age.  According to sociologists and political scientists a country with these percentages goes to chaos and social turmoil and they argue that a social change is needed. Moreover, the increased number of suicides in Greece in the three-year period between 2009 and 2011 represents a trend that shows no sign of economic development. However, it is worth noting that, despite the new negative inflation,   the market basket will be heavier from January 2014 while thousands of our fellow citizens are unable to buy basic consumer goods. Although new taxes to be imposed have been voted out last year and calculated the new state budget , it does not exclude the possibility of increases and new taxes or, if not met the fiscal targets or has not been voted in its entirety the budget.

Even if the banks are closed and after the imposition of capital controls, the majority of people are confused, afraid and they do not know how to vote, but they try to take the best decision not only for the present but also for the future generations. A major political compromise from all sides is needed in order to remain Europe united and strong.