It is clear that the exit from the crisis necessitates not only a reform of the economy, but a reform of the political system as well.

Traditional political perceptions and practices that contributed towards the derailment of the country have no place in the new political era our country is entering, as the first positive indications of ridding ourselves of the tight embrace of the bailout program are starting to show. The country urgently needs a new realistic national recovery plan that will overcome the necessary commitment of our creditors and create the conditions for the transformation of the Greek economy and society. And that needs political forces that can serve such a plan.

The center left party which managed the country for most of the past few decades, some times successfully and others not, paying a heavy price in the last elections for the mistakes, omissions and -above all- failure to deal manage the crisis. The political and social space that it used to inhabit does not exist anymore. The reestablishment and recover of that space is an essential condition, not only for its very existence, but for the formation of a new national identity, with a progressive and European perspective.

The initiative of 58 active citizens to extend an open invitation to everyone, organized or not, without exclusions or hegemonic aspirations is a positive step in that direction. This endeavor is obviously neither easy nor simple since there political entanglements and personal strategies to consider. The challenge and necessity for he creation of a third pole with a distinct democratic, reformist and European outlook is a given. Because, as the “58” argue in their invitation, “the strengthening of the greater center left will take the pressure off the sense of civil war conflict of late and contribute towards restoring a minimum of national consensus, so that political opponents do not become internal enemies again”.

The response to this invitation will determine if the center left is able to overcome the afflictions and mistakes of the past and contribute decisively, as they preach, to the renewal of the political system, as well as the country’s stability and exit from the crisis.

TO VIMA