Greek referendum voters unclear on question, potential aftermath

In Brussels, back in 1994, Greece was the country overseeing European Union enlargement talks with Finland, Sweden, Austria and Norway.

Greece was an EU veteran at that point having joined the group's predecessor in 1981 and taking its turn at the head of the rotatingEU Council.

The acting Greek foreign minister at the time, the larger-than-life Theodoros Pangalos, would step into the haze of a smoky presscentre close to a midnight deadline and famously announce thathe'd "stopped the clock."Time stood still and then it expanded.

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I'm sure this weekend many Greeks are wishing that someonewould call time for them.In the space of a week Greece has slidfrom difficult negotiations with its creditors into full-on crisismode with banks on life support and a seminal referendum just aheartbeat away one that could start to unravel the country'scherished place in the heart of the EU.

"I don't want Greece to become a third-world country inEurope," a man close to tears told me one evening at a "yes"demonstration.

'It's two different questions'

People on both sides of the debate say they feel out ofcontrol.And an astonishing number remain confused about whatthey're being asked to decide.

"The question is do you want the deal of the last weekend[the last deal offered by Greece's lenders before talks collapsed]with the Europeans or not, that's the question our government saysto us," says taxi driver Aris. "And the Europeans say to us, no, thequestion is whether you want to be in Europe or not.

"So I don't know.It's two different questions. So it's twodifferent answers maybe."

It's almost Rumsfeld-esque, where there are knownunknowns.And you know you're in trouble when that starts tomake sense. - Margaret Evans

Some "no" voters dowant to be in the Eurozone, but will vote "no" because they don't want austerity and because they believe the prime minister here, Alexis Tsipras, when he insists that's not whatthe referendum is about.

Some people will vote"yes" even though they don't agree withcreditor's demands because they fear that's exactly what it isabout.And there are those who will vote "no" because they want Greece to cut all ties with Brussels and Berlin.

It's almost Rumsfeld-esque, where there are knownunknowns.And you know you're in trouble when that starts tomake sense.

Greeks have already endured much pain

The reality of the fast-paced challenges on the ground here capital controls, tourists cancelling their vacations in droves,businesses running out of cash are being inflicted on peoplewho've already endured much pain, despite their depiction in thenorthern European tabloid press as a nation full of lazy tax-evaders.

"You're talking about five years of one of the biggest fiscaladjustments in history," says Nick Malkoutzis, deputy editor of theGreek daily Kathimerini's English edition. "Five years after one ofthe deepest economic depressions in history, so the tolerancelevels, the political and social sustainability of doing what you'redoing has been eroded completely.

View from the street: An Athens taxi driver on the Greek referendum

9 years ago

Duration 2:04

CBC's Margaret Evans rides through Athens with a taxi driver who says he's still not sure how to vote in Greece's upcoming referendum.

"You look at the high unemployment figures, the number ofpeople living below the poverty threshold. You look at the generalsense that this division is building up in Greek society. This can'tbe good for a country.It's not leading somewhere positive."

Eliza Sinadinou is a young woman of 26 who returned toGreece after a year studying abroad in London. She says ifGreece votes "no"on Sunday she will pack her bags, get back on aplane and leave.

"I trust the European institutions when they all say that thereal question [is about leaving or staying in the Eurozone.] Butmore importantly even if they're bluffing I don't want to risk mycountry's membership in the European Union. So that's why I'mgoing to vote 'yes."'

'I sensed that they were seeing an enemy'

Sinadinou says the referendum is dividing friends, includingsome of her own, who disagree with her choice.

"They looked me in the eye I don't want to exaggerate butI sensed that they were seeing an enemy, you know?"

Across town I met another young woman named MariaMarkuizou, working as a waitress. Well educated, like Sinandinou,she can't find work in her field.

She will vote "no."

"Only my grandmother wants to vote 'yes,"' she says. "That'sthe thing because the only people who want to vote 'yes'are thosewho have a lot of money.

"We are very insecure about the future. We don't know if wehave a job tomorrow, you know? After Monday maybe everythingof these stores is closed," she says pointing to the small textile andfabrics shops down the street. "Everyone is panicked," she says.

And for very different reasons. Michaelis Brobonas looks tobe in his 70s.He has passed on his small fabric shop to his son,but has come out of retirement to help out because they can'tafford to pay staff.

'It will be a disaster'

His biggest fear now is a "no"vote on Sunday and a return tothe Greek drachma,the memory of which hovers above the citylike a devil or a saviour according to your viewpoint.

"It will be a disaster," he says. "If we return to the drachmawe are finished. Who will supply me? My stock is importedfromthe EU and England and I pay in euros."

The potential consequences of a "yes" or a "no" haven't beenspelled out in a detailed way by either campaign beyond their own interests and the Rumsfeld factor.

The "yes" campaign warns of a messy exit from the Eurozonefollowed by a tsunami of chaos and the "no"s, led by Tsipras, continue to insist everyone is in a flapabout nothing and that he'll be welcomed back to the EUnegotiating table with open arms, perhaps wearing an 'I told youso' smirk.

A challenge to the referendum's legality was swept aside by a constitutional court here Fridayand so the vote will go ahead.

The Greeks will go to the polls carrying a cauldron ofuncertainty: blind faith; ideology; a leap into the void; fear;irrefutable logic; the lesser of two evils, bewilderment

And it appears no one will be calling time.