Editorial: Temptations

The temptation to politically exploit an event especially just a few weeks before an election is comprehensible.

Yet no such temptation is understandable when the events involve national issues and no communications-based management is permissible when the events transcend national borders.

Judging from his initial reactions, the PM appears to be succumbing to temptation.

He appears to believe that this is his last card before the 7 July parliamentary elections and that a crisis can rally citizens around him and his government.

The PM’s political interest, however, is not identical with that of the country.

It is absolutely necessary to tone down the rhetoric and to not give the impression that Ankara’s sabre-rattling can influence Greek domestic politics.

Greece and Cyprus both have strong alliances internationally. These were not forged over the last four years as the PM would have it but rather are the result of critical choices made by previous Greek governments.

The paramount concern of the current government must be not to let an issue involving exploitation of energy resources turn into a Greek-Turkish clash.

It must not use this issue to serve its political and partisan objectives even if that is this government’s last temptation.