Editorial: Illusions

Not only would the narrative of a “clean exit” from the bailout programme have been too good to be true. It would also have been counterfeit.

Those currently in power would essentially be repeating the same heavy and costly error that they committed while still in the opposition, when they were promising citizens they would abolish the bailout memorandum with a single law, and a single article.

Judging by the Prime Minister’s speech in parliament yesterday and from the comments of various Syriza cadres, it appears that this time around the government does not propose to raise the bar on expectations.

The government seems to have realised that a new, unrealistic narrative, not only would not serve its electoral plans, but would instead confront it with a more resounding negation of expectations. As is well known, dashed hopes bring even greater disappointment and rage.

Undoubtedly, one of the main reasons that the crisis in our country was so protracted, in contrast to other countries that were subjected to fiscal adjustment programmes, was the systematic cultivation of illusions in public opinion: the illusion that the country could return to the markets unburdened by responsibilities towards its creditors, and without fiscal supervision.

In conditions of an artificial paradise, the threat of a new misstep would be even greater.

The truth has a political cost that those in power cannot bear. Yet, the social and economic cost of the lie is many times greater, and it falls on the shoulders of the people.