During a crisis negotiation, all that may seem to matter is reaching a deal as quickly as possible. The desire to head off a disaster may lead crisis negotiators to forego the usual comforts of life, such as sleep, in their single-minded pursuit of their goal.
Those appear to have been the conditions under which the government of Greece and its European creditors negotiated a definitive new bailout package for the financially troubled nation. After Greek voters rejected the deal on the table in a referendum, Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and his team headed back to Brussels for a 17-hour marathon negotiating session to come to a new agreement.
The final deal gives Greece up to $98 billion but little else from its wish list. The crisis leadership, including Europgroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem and German chancellor Angela Merkel, emerged from their all-night negotiating session looking “weary and red-eyed,” according to the Guardian.
