Editorial To Vima: An outdated Prime Minister

For the last two months we have been following an endless string of statements, promises, and negotiations over the framework which will replace the Katseli law on the protection of delinquent debtors’ primary residence from foreclosure.

We have not, however, seen any results because as former PM Costas Simitis said in a speech in Thessaloniki, “This is a government which has made clinging to power its primary goal, which engages in demagoguery and easily changes its arguments as it sees fit depending on the circumstances, and which resorts to grandiose rhetoric and to concealing the realities, of which we are informed in the end by Brussels.”

Citizens, businessmen, and the work force are not offered solutions to their problems because the government adopts opportunistic policies which constantly kick the can down the road when it comes to necessary decisions for the revival of the country.

The people continually hear promises that are soon belied because the government lacks a plan and political courage. The national interest is sacrificed on the altar of the petty partisan objectives of the PM’s office.

As Mr. Simitis underlined, “What the country needs is creativity linked to productive investments and growth, an overhaul of fiscal policies, a reassessment of tax brackets and of the insurance system, and a sweeping and systematic reform of public administration, the judiciary, and the educational system.”

Simitis said that it is irrational for the government’s fiscal policy to be focused on handouts and benefits – which fuel illegal employment and tax avoidance – and to perpetuate a state of affairs that keeps the country mired in underdevelopment and uncertainty. After ten years of economic crisis and the endless sacrifices of its citizens, Greece has laid the groundwork for strong development.

The country is once again trapped, however, by SYRIZA’s ideological fixations and its inability to pursue a policy that will offer the necessary impetus to the country’s human capital, which either remains stagnant or emigrates to seek its fortune abroad.

Aware of the corrosion of his power, Mr. Tsipras has dragged the country into a protracted electoral cycle which intensifies the impasse in order to try to salvage what he can of his political base. He declares demagogically that he is the leader who shepherded the country out of the bailout memorandums era, when in fact he is doing whatever he can to keep the country down.

Greece urgently needs a leadership that understands the challenges of the times and which can serve them responsibly and decisively.

It is by now clear to everyone that the current prime minister does not fit the bill.