Euro Area

[Kralizec]

Without wanting to be pedantic, a prime minister isn't a head of state. Napolitino or Papoulias, the presidents of Italy and Greece, are heads of state. And the term "coup d'etat" is usually understood to mean seizing power by illegal means.

Prime ministers resign between elections for all sorts of reasons. Both Berlusconi's and Papandreaou's position in their respective parliaments were pretty shaky anyway, and the fact that foreign pressure played a part does not make it undemocratic, let alone a coup d'etat. In both cases, the former opposition (i.e elected members of parliament) has agreed to support a technocratic cabinet because neither country can afford to delay the decision making caused by an interim election. Unusual? Certainly. Undemocratic or unconstitutional? No.

Having only a superficial knowledge of the Greek situation it seems like Papandreou sought referendum not in the interest of democracy but for personal gain. An opinion was that he wanted to use it as a negotiating tool to further reduce Greece's liabilities.

I'm far too skeptical of politicians, especially lately, Greek politicians, to believe that democracy was served here.

He more or less said that the referendum was supposed to call bluff on the opposition. The opposition knew well enough that accepting the bailout and the conditions that came with it was the only viable choice, but opposed it publicly to garner support from the voters. If he really intended to use a "no" in the referendum to bargain a new deal, he would have gone through with it, unless he came to the conclusion that it was a bad idea afterall.

I already said that it's not a shining example of democracy in action, but neither is it the end of democracy.