Editorial Ta Nea: Seriousness

The ambiguity of the position of the main opposition party regarding the compulsory vaccination of citizens age 60 or older adopted by the government does not help us transcend the collective adventure of the pandemic.

It is a difficult but now necessary measure.

It is the only choice if the epidemic in Greece is to recede, given the data concerning the aforementioned age bracket, which is the most vulnerable but with a low vaccination rate in our country.

In that sense, a coarse opposition stance is ill-advised as regards the decision of the government and the fine that it will impose. We must not return to the rhetoric of a previous era that has nothing to do with what we are experiencing today.

Main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras not long ago accused the government of “timidity” and demanded that the government toughen its stance and limit the room for the unvaccinated.

What happened now that the government made the decision? Did SYRIZA shift stance or did it simply change its position to suit its opposition posture?

One does not raise these questions in order lambaste the main opposition, which after all is not governing.

One raises them in order to underline the institutional role of the main opposition in the political arena, especially in the current emergency conditions of the pandemic, which threaten social cohesion.

Everyone must now rise to the occasion.