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posted by martyb on Monday July 06 2015, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-what-you-asked-for-may-not-be-getting-what-you-want dept.

The Greeks voted no to the European Union's terms, despite warnings from the EU that rejecting new austerity terms would set their country on a path out of the Eurozone. 62% voted "No" while 38% voted "Yes".


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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @01:09PM (#205605)

    The question is irrelevant.

    The referendum was irrelevant. Look at Article 44.2 of the Greek Constitution [hri.org] which clearly states (emphasis mine):

    A referendum on Bills passed by Parliament regulating important social matters, with the exception of the fiscal ones shall be proclaimed by decree by the President of the Republic

    On its face the vote appears to be unconstitutional, though an article on Reuters notes:

    Greece's top administrative court, however, rejected an appeal against the referendum by two Greek citizens, who argued that the constitution bars plebiscites on fiscal issues and that the question is too complex.

    So PM Tsipras put himself in a position to get what he wanted no matter what. If the results had been "Yes" then he could have quietly nudged the court to overrule the the plebiscite. He's been playing both sides against the middle so he can keep posing as "Alexis Tsipras, Greek Political Rockstar".

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday July 06 2015, @08:40PM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday July 06 2015, @08:40PM (#205828) Journal

    Here's the full text of 44.2:

    The President of the Republic shall by decree proclaim a referendum on crucial national matters following a resolution voted by an absolute majority of the total number of Members of Parliament, taken upon proposal of the Cabinet.
    A referendum on Bills passed by Parliament regulating important social matters, with the exception of the fiscal ones shall be proclaimed by decree by the President of the Republic, if this is decided by three-fifths of the total number of its members, following a proposal of two-fifths of the total number of its members, and as the Standing Orders and the law for the application of the present paragraph provide. No more than two proposals to hold a referendum on a Bill can be introduced in the same parliamen- tary term.
    Should a Bill be voted, the time-limit stated in article 42 paragraph 1 begins the day the referendum is held.

    So the first sentence allows the president to proclaim a referendum on crucial national matters. I think one can argue that this referendum was about crucial national matters.

    The second sentence (the one you partially quoted) gives specific regulations for a referendum on bills passed by parliament. This referendum clearly was not about a bill passed by parliament, and therefore that sentence does not apply.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @01:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @01:58PM (#206113)

    In a democracy the power comes from the voters, hence any rule that says "you can't ask the voters" is obviously overruled as soon as you do