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The Greek political elite spent a sleepless night after yesterday's meeting of the euro zone finance ministers which had clearly shown Greece the door if it would not comply with the commitments it had made so far. The general feeling in Athens is that this is a historic moment when an important decision has to be made that will affect the lives of ordinary people over the next 20-30 years. The Eurogroup clearly told the Greek government that the only option before Greece is for it to request an extension of the bailout and the term for doing so expires on Friday.
     It should be recalled that the current bailout to Greece expires on 28 February. Greece has failed to fulfil its obligations under it and the lenders have not paid the last tranche of 7.2 billion euro, without which the government will have no money to pay salaries and pensions in early March.
     "The situation is too serious to leave it only in the hands of Alexis Tsipras and Yanis Varoufakis. We risk losing everything that has been achieved since the term of Konstantinos Karamanlis," a political commentator draw a general conclusion from the situation before one of the most influential Greek televisions.
     So, the Greek pro-European opposition has taken matters in hand. The leader of the Potami party, journalist Stavros Theodorakis has urged the Prime Minister to immediately convene the leaders of political parties to inform them of the progress of negotiations with the European partners and to prepare a national strategy. "Potami supports, and will support, the national interests of Greece in the negotiations, but the delays, loud words and the lack of specific proposals are harmful to these national interests," reads the statement of the party.
    PASOK has also asked for immediate information on the negotiations, and essential at that. The socialists have called on the government to adhere to the institutional procedures and explain how it intends to reach an agreement that will have better, rather than worse, conditions for the people and the economy.
     "The lack of agreement with the lenders is a very unpleasant development. The government must maintain the dialogue with our European partners and show responsibility. We have gone a very long way to ruin it all in the end," former Prime Minister and leader of New Democracy Antonis Samaras stated in a written address.
     The response of Alexis Tsipras to the opposition and especially to the lenders will be clear at 04:00 pm, when the Greek Prime Minister will address the parliamentary group of SYRIZA.