More Greek Dra(ch)ma

Forget about Alice in Wonderland when prime minister George Papandreou, starring the Greek Dra(ch)ma of domestic politics, overshadows the sideshow of the G20 leaders in Cannes. Markets around the world have barely stopped shaking.

The referendum surprise rabbit was stuffed back into the hat as quickly as it had been conjured up, but incredibly the magician Papandreou is still in office, intent on winning a vote of confidence tonight.

You can relive the surreal day of 3 November 2011 through the live blog of Athens News, the FT Eurozone crisis live blog, the CNBC summary of the day, the Reuters summary, the Spiegel Online International report, the Financial Times Deutschland summary (in German), just to name a few.

This morning again, the euro drama is spread on millions of breakfast tables (in paper or virtual form) and played out on millions of screens.

Few have ignited as much pan-European debate as George Papandreou. The euroblogger Ronny Patz - @ronpatz on Twitter – tweeted it like this:

After these weeks, nobody should complain anymore that there is no European Public Sphere. Everyone talks #eurozone & #greece.

What EU citizens lack are the democratic and robust institutions at European (eurozone) level, where the issues are. Only democracy and sufficient powers can end the tortuous and torturous road of failed attempts and half-measures.

In the meantime, tune in to the next episode.



Ralf Grahn