Galery

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The fact that the Memorandum has not been implemented is due to errors in the text but more so to the problems caused by Greece’s failure to implement it. I would like to say that the Europeans and the technocrats from the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund could not believe the extent to which the state and its public sectors had decayed. They thought that they would receive accurate information about anything they asked. They believed that when someone affixed his signature and promised to do something, he would do it. In practice, the experts were involved in a process called "learning by doing" (learning while doing something), which is hard and ultimately, you learn from your mistakes. So, each subsequent loan agreement aimed at trying to solve the problems that had stemmed from the implementation of the previous one. However, I think this can be defined as an attempt, in which there was political will to solve the problems of Greece as well as generosity, because a lot of money had been put into it. Therefore, I could not say that Europe and the Troika had made serious mistakes.

But there were many mistakes in the way we acted. They were related to ignorance, incompetence, playing tricks, significant inaction and mostly to the reluctance to face reality. More or less, we were thinking that if we were dragging our feet, the problems would be solved in one way or another and we would return to the times before the crisis, which is absolutely unreal.

Shortsightedness and populism have survived, yielding results for many years. Generations of politicians have been "brought up" in these principles, because they were effective. So, there was no reason to change them. But when the moment of truth came, they did not know, could not know, did not want to and were unable to assume their responsibility.

How will this situation develop?

Unfortunately, facing reality does not give us a lot of time to become aware. Things are getting more difficult every passing day, month and year, because when you do not solve a problem it gives rise to ten others.

I do not know how long this can continue. In recent months, there has been some mobilization. It is not the best in terms of actions and results but things have stirred up. I cannot answer what the outcome of this situation will be.

According to some commentators, if there is a referendum or elections in Greece now, after the developments in Cyprus, the country will end up outside Europe and the euro zone. Do you share this opinion?

I bear strong optimism, which is based on the belief that societies do not commit suicide. Somehow, logic prevails at the last minute.

The truth is that the way in which both the Cypriot and Greek political systems are responding to the developments in Cyprus resembles the old "glorious" way of denial of reality. In this sense, it is poisonous to our efforts to pull ourselves together and look at things calmly. All this reminds us of our old bad "ego" - big words without meaning, cheating, ostentation and fictitious sacrifices. And the developments in Cyprus have reinforced all these negative things.

We see it both here and there. It's really impressive how the people, with whom we share the same opinion in the lobby, radically change their positions in front of the cameras in the television studio. I think that a significant dose of irresponsibility has recently swept us and I am not hiding the fact that it bothers me a lot.

How do you evaluate the work of the Greek government? Recently, we have seen some steps in the fight against corruption. Are they enough? How long can this last?

I consider positive the fact that some people will appear in court to explain their actions, how they got rich and how they managed the public funds. Many people are commenting that the punishment of Thessaloniki’s former mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos is severe. It is possible to make mistakes in the fuss although I do not think that the specific penalty is heavy. But I cannot accept the other view, because the transition from a situation in which no one is responsible for anything to the opposite is a difficult process and some may become its victims.

But surely, this is the right direction.
 
What bothers me is that while actions in the higher echelons of power are being taken, because society will otherwise explode, I do not see the same happening in the public sector. Getting rich with public money is a very serious problem and I think that it will be difficult for many state actors unknown until recently to explain the increase in their financial assets over the last 15 years. Equally serious is the corruption that allows you not to do your job, not to serve the public by inventing thousands of reasons not to work. There is not yet a sign that there is control over who is doing his or her job and who is not - In fact it is quite the opposite, the feeling is that we are tolerant towards the 'poor' public workers, who are worried and are not working for that reason. Transparency, strictness and performance evaluation should apply everywhere and to everyone.

The people who are not going to work, or are working only for a few hours or are at work but running their private business or sending the citizens to private entrepreneurs to make money will not change just because Akis Tsohatzopoulos is in prison. It takes something more to change this.