A year in a word: Oxi

23/12/2015

By Peter Spiegel

Greek voters said no not nai in a referendum on the EU’s rescue offer

Noun — “No” in Greek. In July’s referendum on the EU’s rescue offer, Greek voters overwhelmingly picked “oxi” over “nai” (yes) by a 61-39 margin

If all Greek tragedies have a catharsis, then the referendum on the terms of a third Athens bailout was surely that moment for Greece’s five-year-old sovereign debt crisis. Voters chose oxi and rejected the EU’s rescue offer.

Thousands then gathered in Athens’ Syntagma square in a cathartic purge of built-up humiliation, dejection and rage.

But Brussels viewed the “Big No”, as Alexis Tsipras termed it, as a rejection of the euro. And with two weeks remaining before a €3.5bn bond came due to the European Central Bank, a default that would almost certainly have led to Grexit, it seemed the country’s days in the eurozone were numbered.

What followed a week later was one of the biggest U-turns — or kolotoumba meaning “somersault” — of the crisis. The Greek prime minister agreed to accept an €86bn bailout at a weekend-long negotiation session. He was forced to agree to harsher terms than those rejected in the plebiscite.

In the end, the oxi may have provided little more than catharsis. It had no impact on negotiations other than to embitter Mr Tsipras’ allies in Brussels and Paris, who felt betrayed by his decision to call the referendum and campaign for oxi as negotiations neared their denouement.

But when the history of the crisis is written, Greece’s oxi may well mark the moment the country went to the edge of the Grexit cliff.

Mr Tsipras’ decision to reverse course has the backing of voters, who re-elected his Syriza party in September. For now, the Greek electorate is saying nai.

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