Windsor restaurateur Nick Pontikis says Greeks 'determined' to see change
People living in Greece have been telling Nick Pontikis that they wanted change, which is why he believes a majority of voters on Sunday rejected budget cuts required by creditors for the country to receive a bailout.
"I get a feeling of quiet resignation, in the sense that people who are determined that something was going to change and if it meant voting no, that's what they were going to do," the Windsor restaurateur told CBC News in a telephone interview from Greece on Monday.
"Everybody I've talked to from cab drivers to family to people at the hotel [where] we're staying and so on, they have the same thing to say: 'Look, if we just said, yes, we would have just had the status quo, the same thing would have happened over and over again and we would have had many more years of misery. At least by saying no, we are showing the European Union that we are determined as a country to set a new course,'" he added.
Pontikis, the owner of Thanasi's on Tecumseh Road, arrived in Greece yesterday, the same day that the country rejected the terms of a possible bailout.
It's a move that puts Greece closer to leaving the European Union, though Pontikis said the people that he's been talking to seem confident that is not going to happen.
"They think there is way too much to be lost both for the Greeks and for the European Union," he said.
Before Pontikis landed in Greece yesterday, he told CBC News that he would have voted yes had he been able to vote. But after landing in Athens and speaking to people living there, he can see the other side of the coin.
"It's easy for me to say yes, because I live in Canada, [which is] a rich country, a progressive country," said Pontikis.
"Coming to Greece, I think changed my mind, after talking to all these people because I'm not inside their misery," he said.
On Tuesday, Greece and its creditors are due to meet for talks on how to keep the country within the Eurozone.
'This guy was a rebel'
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will not be part of those talks, as he resigned Monday.
He had clashed with officials and in a statement Monday, Varoufakis said that they had made it clear they would prefer that he not be part of future talks.
Varoufakis said he would step down, however, as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras believed his exit could be "potentially helpful" in getting a deal for the country.
"I shall wear the creditors' loathing with pride," Varoufakis said Monday.
Pontikis said it was clear that Varoufakis had gone as far as he could with the people he was dealing with.
"These people do not like this finance minister, he's got an attitude, he is his own man, he doesn't wear a tie, he shows up in his motorcycle wearing a leather jacket," said Pontikis.
"This guy was a rebel and they didn't like him in Europe, he was too independent."
Varoufakis was replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos later in the day.
Pontikis said he's excited to be in Greece at such a monumental point in history, one in which there is an air of hope.
"First of all, the eyes of the world are on them, so they know something has to be done," he said.
"The Greeks don't feel alone, they know the entire world is watching and they also know that what happens in Greece will be key and instrumental to the rest of not only Europe, but the world."
