Greek Capital Controls Could Buy Time But Will Not Change Mood Nor Vote

Greece decided to implement capital controls from Monday to freeze its financial situation until at least a July 5 referendum. But again Greece blamed the ECB and other international organizations for its predicament, refusing to acknowledge any fault for its own troubles.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seems to be acting like a troubled person, standing on the ledge of a high-rise building, threatening to jump and expecting bystanders to have pity and make promises to get him back from the brink.

If that was his plan, he has failed and will go down in history as the man who sank Greece into a financial abyss, meanwhile claiming that nobody loved him or his country.

There were difficult talks, there could have been a deal, there might still be a deal before the July 5 referendum, but Tsipras has effectively resigned as Prime Minister by declining to decide. As a modern King Canute he tried to fight the rising seas and failed to turn the tide.

The decision to impose capital controls, and other decision to freeze capital flights until at least the referendum, was unavoidable. Without it there would have been a bank run and a complete erosion of whatever trust there was left in the Greek financial institutions.

Tsipras blames the ECB, which has been throwing billions of euros to shore up the Greek banks – money from the savings and pensions of Europeans – but he refuses to budge his own standpoint. He wants the rest of Europe to pay for Greece’s past errors – without even a sorry note or a promise of better behavior – just like Britain’s David Cameron wants to dictate the rules in Europe as a condition for remaining a reluctant member.

The European Union and the euro zone are based on a principle of solidarity but also on a premise of good house keeping.

People march in central Athens , during a demonstration calling for a ‘NO’ at referendum and for Greece’s exit from the eurozone on June 28, 2015. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stunned Europe late Friday with a surprise call for a July 5 referendum on the latest cash-for-reforms package and advised voters against backing a deal that he said spelled further ‘humiliation’. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images