Some Greeks souring on Tsipras
Merjeme Fegizo said her landlady had made a surprise visit to her apartment Sunday to ask for the 200 euros in rent she is owed at the end of the month.
“I guess she needed the money,” shrugged the single mother, who supports herself and her daughter on a waitress’s salary of 400 to 600 euros a month, about half of what she got a few years ago.
“I couldn’t pay her because I spent four hours on the weekend visiting 20 different banks and none of them had any money. It is a shame, but what can I do?”
Fegizo voted for Tsipras in last winter’s elections because “he looks honest,” but has soured on him since because of his refusal to agree to creditors’ demands.
“He has to accept the situation and work harder to resolve it because if we lose the euro, we lose everything.”
It was no particular hardship for Despoina Haravgi to get by on 60 euros a day because she usually only spends 20 euros a day. But the English tutor was naturally unhappy the amount she could charge for lessons had been cut from 30 euros an hour to 10 to 15 euros.
Tsipras’s uncompromising position and his habit of walking out of the talks with creditors at key moments had been unhelpful, Haravgi said.
“He appeals to our emotion and our national pride, and that is not good enough for me. I want to live in dignity, whether it is inside the euro or outside the euro.”
Her husband, who is a bank teller, had told her he was afraid to go to work Monday because “he might be bullied and threatened. There could be violence at any time because Greeks are so hotheaded.”
Fegizo was also anxious about the possibility of bloodshed if, as everyone expects, the economic situation gets worse.
“At one ATM where there was no money on Sunday I saw a fight,” she said. “One man actually wanted to break into the machine.”
Not everyone agreed that remaining in the eurozone was Greece’s best solution. Panagoitis Georgakarakos was planning to vote no in the referendum.
“To be honest, the drachma was OK and I think that returning to it would be much better,” he said.
Like almost every Greek, he had a hard-luck story. He worked 100 hours a week as a travel agent to get by and his wife, a teacher, had to turn down a job in the distant countryside because it only paid 550 euros a month.
“The question is whether a country with such a small economy should stay in the EU because we know that the economies of Europe are not equal,” he said.
Like Georgakarakos, Korina Attart was planning to vote no. She was then going to get out of Greece as fast as she could.
“I definitely want to emigrate,” the 22 year-old said. “I have not given up on Greece, I have given up on her people.”
The only job she had been able to find was an internship as a receptionist in a five-star hotel for 290 euros a month, or about $2 an hour.
“I’ve missed five years of my life already with this crisis,” she said. “Whether we stay in the euro or leave it, life will continue to be miserable here.”
The question is whether a country with such a small economy should stay in the EU because we know that the economies of Europe are not equal. Panagoitis Georgakarakos (Tsipras) appeals to our emotion and our national pride, and that is not good enough for me.