The Greek elections disavowed the austerity policies and the two parties that had governed Greece since the end of the military dictatorship. A new governing coalition could not be formed. The political establishment in the EU does not seem prepared to accept a vote against the policies that they advocate. On the one hand, they are trying to blackmail the Greek electorate into a more obedient vote in the coming fresh elections. On the other hand, they are preparing the public for a possible forcible exit of Greece from the euro zone.

The clear vote against the austerity policies should not surprise anybody. These policies have not only produced massive social degradation, but they have proved to be unable to meet their own targets. Instead of reconsidering the policies, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund simply have continued to radicalise them. Even liberal commentators of the Financial Times admit that the EU/IMF policies are likely to produce a decade-long depression in Greece. Already so far, no other European country has suffered from such a prolonged recession in the present crisis as Greece. The ongoing recession and the high unemployment have a negative impact on the revenue side of the budget. The austerity-induced recession exacerbates the problems of public debt. The Greek banking system which had been characterised by rather conservative lending policies before the crisis is becoming more fragile. The recession has reduced the external imbalances only very slowly. In 2010, exports covered only 28.7% of imports. Greece would urgently need a re-industrialisation that would permit more of national consumption being covered by local production. However, such questions are not contemplated in EU/IMF programmes.

When it became obvious that the partisans of continued austerity policies – Nea Demokratia (ND) and PASOK – would not be able to form a government, leading politicians in the EU declared in stark terms that either Greece accepts unconditionally the EU/IMF policies or will have to exit the euro zone. Some politicians went so far to declare that even a Greek exit from the EU should be contemplated. With this EU stand, the political dividing lines in Greece became even more pronounced. The EU establishment certainly did not facilitate the formation of a new government. It prepared the ground for a scaring campaign of ND and PASOK which asserts that the alternative is either acceptance of EU austerity policies or chaos.

Reports on Greeks withdrawing their assets are widely reported in the international press. The figures differ significantly. While the Financial Times reported that between the elections on 6 May and mid-May a deposit outflow of 5 bn € was recorded, the Turkish financial daily Dünya cited only an outflow of 1.2 bn € from Greek banks. Usually, declining banking deposits are not openly discussed in the press in order not to increase already existing uncertainty. In the case of Greece, the opposite is happening and this fits well into the scaring campaign. The IMF and the European Central Bank increase the pressure on Greece as well. The ECB is shifting the onus to keep the Greek banks afloat to the Greek authorities.

The dominant policies clearly exacerbate the crisis. The dominant sectors of the EU establishment are willing neither to accept a democratic verdict that is not according to their desires nor to revise their policies. The European crisis is not only economic, it is political as well.