The mix of spending cuts and tax increases and changes in the social security regulations, such as abolishing early retirement by next year and gradually increasing the retirement age to 67, proposed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were labelled by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk "as the first real proposals in many weeks". Earlier on, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had set the stage for an outcome by pointing out that he was convinced that "there would be a deal this week for the simple reasons that there has to be one".
Read more from our special coverage on "GREECE CRISIS"
This is a victory for wisdom and cold-headed realism over dogmatism on both sides: The Greek Prime Minister had to take over the negotiating process against the members of his government and of his party ready to go for a default on the country's foreign debt and return to the drachma, thus freeing itself from the burden of a debt now at 18 per cent of GDP and benefiting from the devaluation that would follow an exit from the euro zone to boost competitiveness. On the European side, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Juncker had to overcome the dogmatism of the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, who was ready to go for Grexit, convinced that the crucial priority for the credibility of the euro zone is to enforce strictly the rules and that the improvement of the economic outlook and the improvements in the functioning of the euro zone would allow it to withstand the turmoil generated.
This argument, however, overlooked the enormous damage to the credibility of the euro by a precedent for adoption of the euro being reversible. In addition to that, many European leaders are well aware of the fact that although the conditions have improved inside the euro zone, nobody can predict for sure what could be the implications of Grexit, not only on the euro zone itself but on the world economy (remember the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy?). Last but not least, there is no underestimating the geopolitical risks involved in having a desperate Greece let loose.
With a deal Athens would get access to the last tranche of the existing bailout agreement - euro 8.2 billion - which would allow it to reimburse the euro 1.8 billion it owes to the IMF just on the deadline date of 30 June. This, in turn, would open the door for a third bailout agreement that Greece absolutely needs to be able to meet some basic obligations in the coming period - continuing to honour its debt and covering the basic financial needs of a barely functioning state, such as paying civil servants and pensions and keeping the minimum social services going.
Does that mean that the Greek drama is now definitely moving towards a positive outcome, and that the euro zone leaders can thus devote all their attention to the still urgent priority of strengthening and broadening an economic recovery? After all, the recovery is still too timid to dent the 11.3 per cent average euro-zone unemployment rate? Don't bet the house on that.
In fact, what has happened this week with the high-wire drama taking place between Athens and its "troika" of creditors - the European Commission, the European Central bank and the IMF - is best characterised as a band-aid solution to long-term problems. What is actually required are the kind of structural solutions that take not only time but radical changes in terms of social and political mindsets, as well as in the way national institutions function.
First of all, Prime Minister Tsipras will have serious difficulties getting the deal with Brussels accepted by large segments of Greece - and especially the left of the constituency that brought him to power at the beginning of the year on the promise made to face up to the diktats of the troika. His further promise was to end the five years of brutal austerity that have reduced the country's GDP by more than 20 per cent. The demonstrations in Athens this week are a harbinger of the resistance he will face. Even more importantly, the government can commit to raise some categories of taxes and abolish tax exemptions for Greek islands, but the key issue remains the ability of the authorities to enforce efficient tax collection in a country where tax evasion is a built-in mindset and a major structural issue, with the underground, unreported, economy evaluated at being about 25 per cent of the whole real economy. And then there are the institutional and political obstacles and resistances: It suffices to point out that out of the euro 50 billion that had been expected in the bailout plan to be raised from the privatisation of state assets, a mere euro 3 billion has been realised.
However, there are even more reasons to consider that the Greek crisis is definitely not over. For the moment, the official European line is that there should be no write-off of any amount of Athens international debt. But it is common sense that there is no way the country will be able to repay its financial burden in total. So far it has been "extend and pretend" - continuing to lend more money to Greece so that it can repay its creditors with the money just lent to it, while pretending that the debt is repayable.
There will have to be a coming to terms with reality. In addition to that, the Europeans and the IMF will have to stop insisting that reforms that require one or two good economic cycles to be implemented and absorbed by the economic and social fabric of the country can be implemented in a matter of months or even one or two years. They should remember that it took almost all of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's two terms in office to implement a labour reform in his country - a reform on which Mrs Merkel is now backtracking, abrogating some of its important elements for political convenience.
The deal struck this week will only be significant if it is used to gain the time necessary to create the conditions for a realistic framework for a long-lasting solution - one that would be a win-win for Greece as well as for the euro zone and the global economy. This will require a lot of painful soul-searching and reversal of the absurdly dogmatic notion that austerity can be the solution to recreate growth for an economy on its knees.
The writer is president of Smadja & Smadja, a strategic advisory firm
Twitter: @ClaudeSmadja
Twitter: @ClaudeSmadja