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Under these conditions, I think that the best solution would be to form a government of national unity that would involve all parties and Alexis Tsipras as Prime Minister. With all his shortcomings, he is still able to communicate with those Greeks who gave a negative vote in the referendum. However, I fear that it helps him overcome the internal problems in SYRIZA.

In addition, my observations show that probably he is not seeking that solution and he will announce elections. And they make sense if Tsipras reoriented that part of SYRIZA, which would remain with him and changed his policy orientation to pro-European as well as his coalition partner. If this happened, we could talk about a new course. However, you understand that, for this to happen, Saul must become Paul on the path to Damascus. In my opinion, it is very difficult for this to happen. It is not impossible but very difficult.

Why five years after signing the first memorandum of financial aid does Greece continue to be in this situation?

I think the reasons for this are two. The first is that a very heavy memorandum was imposed on Greece that should have included restructuring of its sovereign debt in 2010. Creditors did not do it because it would have affected their own interests.

On the one hand, all targets in the memorandum were refuted and on the other, Greece is a country in a state of constant instability. The rhetoric against the memorandum was particularly acute and it was enough for all governments to believe that the political price of implementing it would be too high.

It activated the Greek political culture that is introvert, xenophobic, highly polarized and confrontational. Therefore, neither of the governments that had to implement the memorandum was able to do so.

If we could plan things on a white sheet of paper, the ideal scenario would contain sovereign debt restructuring in 2010 and a government of national unity during the period of implementing the memorandum until Greece emerged from the crisis, and its political life and the country itself became stable.

These things did not happen for the reasons I stated previously. And now we are paying the price.

Why were reforms in Cyprus successful unlike in Greece?

The political culture of Cyprus has something very important that Greek lacks. And it is the survival instinct. Every day a Greek Cypriot leaves his house, he sees the Turkish flag on Mount Pentadaktylos. It reminds him that his country is under occupation and he knows that the enemy is as close as some tens of metres. This creates a national rallying, despite the political differences between the parties.

Dimitris Christofias has signed the memorandum and Nicos Anastasiades has implemented it. I.e. the two major parties have supported it. The smaller parties have responded but occasionally. They have not taken concrete actions. There are no strikes. We can say that the political culture there is largely culture of consent and administration of rules.

The Troika wants exactly this: to comply with what you have signed, so that you can get out of the agreement within the specified term. The actions of Cyprus in this direction seem to have been successful.

I think Greeks alone have made life more difficult, precisely because of the poor culture of confrontation that reigns here. On the one hand, this culture does not want to change all the things that have led us to bankruptcy, namely corruption, vicious ties, putting the party interest over the public, etc, and on the other, it aims to perpetuate polarization and confrontation. It is something like a 'political DNA' that is inherent to Greek culture and that can hardly be changed.

How do you see the emergence of Greece from the crisis?

It is difficult to answer. As a citizen, I would like it to happen but as an analyst my concerns are that Greece will fail to emerge from the crisis and that perhaps the drachma is its fate.

Greece has to fulfil many prerequisites to be able to function in such a tight and disciplined system like the euro zone. These prerequisites are not available in Greek political culture and I do not see how they could occur.

Therefore, my forecast is that Greece will probably continue to be in a state of crisis because of which it will return to the drachma. Of course, what I am saying from the position of an analyst is what I do not want to happen as a citizen and I will do whatever I can to prevent it.