IT is hard not to feel considerable sympathy for Greek voters. In January they elected a government that promised to bring an end to five years of agonizing austerity, by facing down Greece's international creditors. The left-wing government of the charismatic Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras entered into negotiations for debt relief and yet more borrowing with considerable gusto. Indeed the-then finance minister Yanis Varoufakis added outright rudeness and aggression to his country's negotiating tactics. This put many backs up and may even have hardened the terms that Greece was required to fulfill in order to receive more eurozone cash to avoid defaulting on existing loans repayments. Tsipras and Varoufakis returned to Athens with the package, which they decided to put to a referendum. The prime minister and his party demanded that voters reject the terms imposed by fellow eurozone countries. And by a surprising majority they did. Tsipras, who had quickly fired the arrogant Varoufakis, returned to Europe with the ‘No' vote in his pocket and effectively defied his fellow eurozone countries to force Greece out of the single currency or give him better terms. In a staring game dominated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it was Tsipras who blinked first. Greece was neither forced out of the eurozone nor given better terms. When he got back to Athens, it became clear that Tsipras had agreed to a bailout deal, the terms of which were actually less favorable than the original package which just weeks before, he had persuaded Greeks to reject in the referendum. Hardly surprisingly, some of the more doctrinaire left-wingers in his party found it even higher price for eurozone support and they quit en masse robbing Tsipras of his parliamentary majority. He has therefore called a snap election for next month. Though his popularity has fallen, opinion polls suggest that the prime minister may have a narrow win. This surely spells trouble. If he has only a thin majority, Greek politics being typically unruly, he will quickly suffer rebellions and defeats. It is entirely feasible that the electorate may be asked to vote for a fourth time this year. They already have every right to be confused if not downright angry. They elected a government that promised to end austerity, but has not. They rejected a renegotiated bailout only to see the leader who urged them to do this, accept an even worse deal. Now they are being asked to back even harsher austerity than they rejected in July. This would be almost comical were there not neo-Nazi extremists from Golden Dawn lurking in the political woodwork. The migrant crisis has been exacerbated in recent weeks by the flood of Syrian and Afghan refugees coming from Turkey. Tensions are rising and fascist thugs are already exploiting them. If Greek voters now believe that it doesn't matter how they vote, because politicians will break electoral promises whatever, then the entire political process could be endangered by a voter strike. It is from such moments of crisis, when there are convenient scapegoats to hand, that history has shown that Fascists draw strength. An unstable Greece could be plunged into civil conflict, which would have grave implications for already fragile stability elsewhere in the Balkans. The cost of sorting out Greece's indebtedness could therefore run far higher than debts themselves.
