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Greek Court Allows Vote on Bailout Package In Greek Referendum Campaign, a Barrage of Doomsday Ads
(about 4 hours later)
LONDON — The top administrative court of Greece declared on Friday that a referendum on a European bailout package is constitutional, allowing a potentially historic vote that could change the shape of Europe. ATHENS — The ads come close to suggesting that the apocalypse could be just around the corner if Greeks make the wrong choice in a referendum on Sunday.
The ruling from the Council of State, which was expected, means the balloting can be held on Sunday as scheduled. Against a blue background, a cheery cartoon rendering of an A.T.M. appears and an announcer asks: Will there be cash on Monday?
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras renewed his call for Greeks to reject the terms of the bailout offer from the country’s European creditors, warning voters against caving in to “blackmail.” A big red “X” crosses it out. Will there be gasoline? Will there be medicine? Will pensions be paid? As the ad continues, a dozen such questions are answered with a resounding “no,” before the tagline appears urging voters to say yes in Sunday’s referendum.
“I ask you to say no to ultimatums, blackmail and fear-mongering,” he said in a televised address. “No to divisions, no to those who want to spread panic.” “Now, that we know how many no’s a no can bring,” the voice-over says, “On Sunday, we say, yes.”
In the referendum, Greeks will be asked to decide whether to vote yes to accepting a bailout package that would keep Greece solvent and in the eurozone — but impose more taxes and pension cutbacks — or to vote no and demand a better deal or, possibly, be kicked out of the euro.
On Friday, a day of dueling yes and no rallies, when a top Greek court swept aside a constitutional challenge to the referendum, the role of the news media emerged as one of the most contentious issues. Ads predicting doomsday scenarios and long newspaper articles on the plight of retirees have been coming fast and furious from Greece’s oligarch-dominated news organizations, which critics say are all-in on the yes side.
Whatever their ultimate impact on the vote, the hothouse news media atmosphere and, critics say, scaremongering have helped perpetuate the chaos and confusion that has been rampant since the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, called for the referendum a week ago.
“There is no discussion of the real issues,” said Nikos Leandros, a news media expert at the Panteion University in Athens. “They are exaggerating the feelings of fear and agony and creating an atmosphere that makes it impossible for anyone to think clearly.”
Voters are being subjected to a heavy barrage of ads, many of them suggesting that to follow the call of Mr. Tsipras for a no vote would unleash forces that would see Greece cast out of the European Union altogether, with disastrous results.
Mr. Tsipras himself has been campaigning for a no vote, most likely in the hope that it would give him new leverage in dealing with creditors who he says are offering harsh terms that would only drive Greece deeper into the economic abyss.
Mr. Tsipras, whose political career is on the line in the vote, took time out Thursday evening to criticize the news media. During a televised interview, he complained of unbalanced coverage. When challenged by a reporter, he offered official figures showing that the six main stations in Greece had given about eight minutes to a no rally and 46 minutes to a yes rally.
The bulk of the coverage of the no rally came from one station, ERT, he said, which had been shut down by the previous government and which gave both sides about equal time.
He said that one station, Skai, gave zero minutes to the no rally, which drew thousands to Syntagma Square in front of the Parliament building and more than seven minutes of coverage to the equally well-attended yes rally the following day.
On Friday, Mr. Tsipras renewed his call for Greeks to reject the terms of the bailout offer from the country’s European creditors, warning voters against caving in to “blackmail.”
“I ask you to say no to ultimatums, blackmail and fearmongering,” he said in a televised address. “No to divisions, no to those who want to spread panic.”
Calling for national unity, he reiterated his insistence that the referendum set for Sunday would be a vote on a bad deal for Greece rather than a referendum on its continued membership in the single-currency eurozone.Calling for national unity, he reiterated his insistence that the referendum set for Sunday would be a vote on a bad deal for Greece rather than a referendum on its continued membership in the single-currency eurozone.
“On Sunday, it’s not Greece’s participation in the euro that’s at stake,” Mr. Tsipras said. He has argued that a successful “no” vote will give him the leverage he needs to negotiate the bailout on better terms for Greece. Just who is financing the frightening yes ads is unclear, according to Christos Xanthakis, the media editor for Newpost.gr, a right-leaning news site, who said the major opposition parties, who all favor a yes vote, have no money.
Clashes broke out briefly on Friday evening between leftist factions and the police at a rally supporting the “no” vote in Athens’s central Syntagma Square. Amid a chorus of boos, angry protesters advanced on police after they fired tear gas and dragged a person to the ground. Shouts of “Why are you doing this?” could be heard. But, he says, beyond the ads, major news outlets that in the past have largely ignored the troubles of average Greeks are now offering story after story on their troubles, heightening a sense of fear before the vote.
As police retreated the demonstration continued calmly, with supporters chanting, “No to the referendum!” “They are covering people’s misfortunes 24/7 right now,” Mr. Xanthakis said. “If they had shown this kind of sensitivity over the last five years, Greece would be a better country.”
In his speech, Mr. Tsipras highlighted a report published this week by the International Monetary Fund that said Greece needed 50 billion euros, or $55 billion, in debt relief, saying it vindicated the country’s decision to reject the bailout terms offered by its international creditors. Mr. Leandros said that there are rules about giving equal time to political campaigns, but that they have often been ignored and are particularly hard to enforce in such a brief campaign.
“Yesterday, an event of major political importance happened,” Mr. Tsipras said. “The I.M.F. published a report on Greece’s economy which is a great vindication for the Greek government as it confirms the obvious — that Greek debt is not sustainable.” And, he said, the owners of the major television news outlets are particularly unhappy with Mr. Tsipras because he has said that he wants them to pay for their licenses and to open the market to new competitors.
As a mix of anger, recrimination and resignation intensified ahead of the referendum, both camps sought to underline the perils facing Greece if the other side prevailed. Opinion polls suggest the two sides are neck and neck. Mr. Tsipras’s no ads are more an extension of his original campaign, which rallied people’s sense of pride and resistance. One pictures a series of energetic young people giving their reasons for saying no. One says, “I vote no because democracy cannot be blackmailed.” Another, “I vote no because austerity policies exhaust Europe.”
The mood could be swinging slightly in favor of a “yes” vote, analysts said, as frustration and anger grew over the closing of banks, long lines at cash machines and a €60 daily limit on cash withdrawals. Mr. Tsipras has countered the yes ads with frequent use of his office, addressing the country several times, including Friday, when he took advantage of a new report from the International Monetary Fund that maintained, as the prime minister himself has for months, that Greece will need debt relief to get back on its feet.
European leaders have warned that if Greece votes no, it could be the beginning of the country’s departure from the 19-member eurozone. Leaders from the major center-left and center-right parties, including the former prime minister, Antonis Samaras, have had no trouble finding news media exposure to make their case that Mr. Tsipras has brought the country to ruin.
But Mr. Tsipras has sought to frame the referendum as a vote on whether Greeks agree to what he views as a humiliating deal that will impose austerity measures and further impede economic growth. Both sides have had celebrities make guest appearances in the campaign, including a son of the deposed Greek king who urged citizens to vote yes, and the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who urged them to vote no.
Leaders across Europe and particularly in Germany have grown frustrated with Mr. Tsipras and his leftist government, and many are hoping privately that a yes vote will signal his political demise, clearing the way for a less intransigent leader. When Mr. Tsipras ran for office in January, Greeks were also subjected to ads and newspaper coverage suggesting a vote for his Syriza party would be the undoing of Greece. One official even suggested that Greeks stock up on toilet paper. Nonetheless, Greeks voted for him.
The yes camp, in contrast, is warning that a vote against accepting the creditors’ terms threatens to plunge the country into even worse economic crisis, undermining Greece’s clout on the global stage. This time, however, with the banks closed and European Union officials themselves campaigning against him, polls suggest it is too close to call.
Mr. Tsipras’s announcement last weekend that a referendum would be held took European leaders by surprise and has come under criticism from several quarters, including from the Council of Europe, a human rights organization, which has said that the 11th-hour vote falls short of international standards. The group has said that there must be at least two weeks’ notice for a referendum to allow for the necessary debate, that it must have a clear question and that it must include international observers. Both the yes vote and the no vote held competing rallies Friday night, each drawing thousands of spectators. Speakers at the yes rally talked of wanting to remain part of Europe. Mr. Tsipras also said he wanted to stay in Europe, but he urged his supporters to stand up for themselves and not be afraid.
The divisions regarding Greece were also playing out on social media, where Mr. Tsipras, an intermittent presence with several Twitter accounts, used his official prime minister’s handle on Thursday to post a message saying that he believed that he saw signs of “retreat” from Greece’s creditors once the referendum was scheduled.
The remark appeared to infuriate an employee of the European Union, who replied that Mr. Tsipras should not send such “lies from your personal handle. You crook.” That message later appeared to have been removed.