In the recent autumn conference of the Trilateral Commission (an international body which mostly focuses on the financial relations of Europe, America and Asia) the former Prime Minister and Vice President of the European Central Bank Loukas Papadimos tried to present the Greek prospects with relative optimism, as required after all by any Greek politician when addressing an international audience.
He stated that the newly-elected government under Mr. Tsipras has the opportunity to implement the agreement reached in the summer and as such, under certain conditions, the Greek recovery may get back on the path to recovery.
However Mr. Papadimos’ optimism did not have a great response.
Most of those participating in the Trilateral Commission expressed serious doubts as to whether the second left-wing government can implement the July agreement and rid the country from the burden of the crisis.
Some even predicted that the Tsipras government will buckle under the pressure of the measures that it assumed and at some point will lose touch with the program. This, in turn, will trigger a new crisis that will be fateful, since the current program is the last one and there are no provisions for other help from the European partners.
The recent reports in the German press regarding statements from Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble that the possibility of a Grexit is still on the table and has not been abandoned confirms all of the aforementioned.
If this is taken into consideration with reports in the Financial Times regarding the exclusion of Greece from the Schengen Treaty, which in essence means returning to a third country state with passports, visas and customs controls at the airports, then the country is at serious risk.
If the possibility of a Grexit still looms because the government is not the position to implement the program that it agreed to and there is a threat of the Schengen Treaty being withdrawn, because some neglected to acquire the necessary equipment to document incoming refugees and others did not want to follow the steps to verify passport authenticity, then a major issue for the country arises.
It is of vital importance to protect the borders and this is an opportunity for Greece to regain its equivalence as a European partner.
At this point there is no room for delaying any decisions and measures.
Just like there can be no backing or games with implementing the agreement that was reached in the summer.
The Prime Minister will either finish the job or declare his inability to do so and ask for help.
The pension system reform cannot wait, nor can the government retreat and trigger a Grexit.
The national interest demands that it moves forward.
An entire generation cannot be left hanging jut because Pappas and Flampouraris cannot cope with the exposure to the people!
It is the Prime Minister’s job to convince his party and other political forces on the intensity and critical nature of the problem.
After all, there are no impasses in Democracy…
Antonis Karakousis
