Al Jazeera Blogs


Europe

The pictures of how Tony Nicklinson used to be present a picture of a big, handsome family man. And then there's another one: of someone else sitting in a wheelchair, evidently incapable of doing anything. If you didn't already know it was the same person, you'd struggle to recognise the transformation.

But that's what a massive stroke does to people, and for the last seven years Tony Nicklinson has described his life as worthless.

He has a rare condition known as "locked-in syndrome", from which there will be no physical recovery. But his mind still works, and it has decided that he wants to die.

In European capitals, and in Washington for that matter, there would have been sighs of relief.

The great fear outside of Greece was that Alexis Tsipras, and his radical left Syriza coalition, would come first, and put his country on a collision course with its creditors.

The consequences of this might have been disastrous, and not just for the Eurozone.

During the campaign foreign leaders were at first restrained, but in the end increasingly shrill, as to the potential dangers of a Tsipras victory.

Greece's pro-bailout parties may have won enough votes to form a government but a Greek exit from the eurozone still appears inevitable.

Why? Because the austerity imposed by the troika – the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union – is crippling what's left of the economy.

There are those who say, it would be cheaper to keep Greece within the euro, or even pay Greece to stay!

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel won't countenance demands to renegotiate the bailout. It's a vote loser, and other bailout nations will demand the same. Although there are signals coming out of Berlin that there could be some easing of terms.

What a difference a few months makes in Greek politics.

The last time I visited Chalkida was last October. George Papandreou was Prime Minister and leader of Pasok, the biggest socialist party in Greece at that time.

The centre right New Democracy party was making political capital. Its leader, Antonis Samaras, was attacking Pasok for more-or-less giving away the country's sovereignty to "The Troika" and failing to resist some of the austerity measures imposed by the ECB, the EU and the IMF.

Now Papandreou is in the political wilderness, his party decimated.

In a break between the grating din of a powerful chainsaw and the crash of felled trees comes an irritable bellow from the wood cutter.

His words echo around the forest: "Well let my vote be lost!"

I had just asked Apostolis Kasidis if his plan to vote for the No Pay movement in Sunday's Greek election is a wasted vote.

Bare-chested Apostolis, sweat dripping from his brow, is hot and frustrated. All of his life he has been loyal to Pasok, the mainstream Greek socialist party. He stood by its former leader George Papandreou right through to his political demise as prime minister last year.