Editorial Ta Nea: Awareness

For Greece’s EU partners and for the international press, which reflects intentions and the political climate, a New Democracy victory in the 7 July general election is considered a given.

The current prime minister is leaving the stage and the next one is getting ready to write a new chapter in the country’s political history.

One hopes that this new chapter will have nothing to do with what the country lived through from the outbreak of the crisis and during the secondary crisis triggered by the outgoing government’s self-deceptions.

One hopes that 2019 will not be like 2009 or 2015 and that the political system has learned its lesson, albeit at a high cost.

One hopes that the party that is preparing to take power will not repeat the tragic mistakes made when it was in power previously.

One also hopes that the party that is leaving power will not once again invest in populism and thereby harm society and itself by becoming entrapped in its deceptions.

The political system – each party in line with its role in directing the country – must exhibit maturity the day after the election, because although 2019 is not 2009 or 2015, dangers still exist.

It is on their awareness of this fact that New Democracy and SYRIZA will be tested.