Editorial Ta Nea: Soup

Taking the opponent by surprise in politics is a weapon in the hands of whoever is in power. If certain preconditions are not met, then the weapon may prove to be without bullets, and the gunshot may sound empty. This has occurred many times in the past, and it is something that, by all appearances, may happen again now, because the conditions for surprise have not been met.

Take a cabinet reshuffle as an example. It could not surprise at this juncture. That could happen if the reshuffle produced a political result.

However, political results are not produced without the PM having an ace up his sleeve and without a depth of human capital. Such a reshuffle would surprise just as much as warmed over soup would.

The package of handouts that the prime minister intends to announce at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair is also warmed over soup. Benefits that have been repeatedly announced will not be a pleasant surprise for anyone.

On the contrary, they will provoke an unpleasant feeling if in the end they are not implemented due to the fiscal surveillance regime to which the country will be subjected after the end of the bailout programme.

All those piecemeal surprises have a general aim, which is none other than electoral surprise. That is also warmed over soup. The parties are preparing for elections, and more and more citizens want elections.

What is left? It is for the government to surprise by adopting a responsible stance in the time that remains before the elections.

That is the only way not to offer Greek citizens warmed over soups, but rather a true service to the country.