The government is warming-over a programme that it had announced four years ago, before it was elected, with pomp and ceremony.

Yet, the last thing the country needs at this time is warmed-over electoral programmes.

The last thing one needs is more pledges or, even worse, unilateral actions, the cost of which the citizenry will once again be called upon to pay.

The example of the freeze of the VAT tax for five Aegean islands burdened by the migration crisis is too recent for one to ignore. Greece’s creditors demanded alternative measures that will bring in 28mn euros in revenues, in order to approve the continuation of the special VAT tax discount.
That alone reveals the post-memorandum reality. After the end of the third bailout programme, Greece will remain firmly bound by an extremely strict surveillance scheme, under which the government will be perpetually obliged to offer an accounting.

How, then, and in communication with whom, are tax cuts and wage hikes being planned and announced? Who will foot the bill?

The answer is that the bill, or rather the bills, will be paid by taxpayers. Beyond the fact that they will dig deep into their pockets to serve the government’s planned handouts, they will also pay for the undermining of any credibility the country has left.
That means that they will be bound to the strict surveillance of creditors.

Is that not too big a price to pay for pre-electoral pledges to hand out crumbs?

Τελευταία Νέα