A bitter pill to be swallowed

So a drachma’s not being made out of the Greek eurozone crisis – but only just.

A deal to keep the cradle of civilisation in the common European currency zone has been hastily hatched. But there are costs and some of them are not yet known.

The third bailout comes with conditions about Greece’s pension system, boosting tax revenue, liberalising the labour market and privatisation.

The eurozone loan package for Greece is worth up to 86 billion (£62bn) mainly from the bailout fund.

A new 50bn Greek trust fund will be set up for the recapitalisation of Greek banks and reducing the country’s debt mountain.

Providing the Greek government approve the plan by today, the doomsday scenario of Greece leaving the eurozone and the country’s banks and essential services collapsing will be averted.

But will the eurozone medicine be easily swallowed by the Greek population?

The road to recovery will not be short and painless. How will Greeks react to a medicine of working longer and paying more taxes forced down their throats by interfering foreign powers?

Reports suggest the tonic will not be willingly taken with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras facing a tough battle to win support from coalition partners.

Defence Minister Panos Kammenos has already said he will not support the measures, and the bailout is conditional on the Greek parliament passing all the agreed reforms by today.

But will the eurozone medicine be easily swallowed by the Greek population?

For the eurozone, preventing Greece’s return to the drachma avoids the probability of the country defaulting on 35bn repayments to the European Central Bank.

The controversy exposed a potentially damaging split within the eurozone with countries like France and Italy on one side and Germany, the main bankroller of Greece’s rescue, on the other.

Portugal, Spain and Ireland, who have undergone drastic belt-tightening and don’t see why Greece should be let off the hook, also needed persuading.

In the end, keeping Greece in the euro was slightly more palatable than putting Greece out – but the story might not be over yet.

A pensive Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s Prime Minister.