Editorial: Prettification

There are two ways to evaluate the IMF’s first report on Greece after the completion of the bailout programme in August, 2018.

The one is to discredit the Fund as being neo-liberal and callous. It is the path of easy condemnation.

The other, which is the responsible way, is to seriously consider the warnings of the authors of the report.

The government does not have the luxury of choosing. The path it must tread is that of responsibility, as strong as its addiction to populism may be.

One did not need the IMF’s report to understand that complacency or even worse a mindless return to the bad practices of the past could prove fatal, and that a judicial ruling ordering the return of wages and pensions slashed by the bailout memorandums will greatly burden the budget.

The IMF’s report reminds one of the harsh realities experienced by Greek citizens. The government insists on prettifying those realities for obvious reasons.

Such prettification has cost us dearly until now. It resulted in a third bailout memorandum.

It would be disastrous if it resulted in yet another bailout programme that would be unbearable for citizens.

Governments come and go, but the citizenry is always here.