Editorial: Cycles

Four years ago a painful cycle opened for the economy and Greek citizens.

The government was forced to shut down banks and to impose capital controls, which was supposed to be a temporary measure.

That cycle has definitively ended with the complete lifting of capital controls.

For that cycle not to reopen it must be made clear why it happened and what led the Tsipras-Kammenos coalition government to take such an inconceivable decision for a European economy.

One reading would have the head of the European Central Bank as the culprit.

That is not merely a simple interpetation. It is deceptive.

The truth is that the government at the time was responsible for banks shutting down and the imposition of capital controls because of its policies.

As we know, it took five years to lift capital controls completely.

That means that crises of this magnitude cannot be resolved overnight.

Painful cycles do not close easily.

That is something that must be seriously taken into account by those who hold the country’s future in their hands and who make decisions that affect millions of people.