The dilemma is now clear and will become clearer between now and the next national elections: stability and prospects or “money trees” and uncertainty.
The announcement of the measures after the surplus lock-in and the reactions of the opposition show that on the road to the elections, which the prime minister has set for spring 2027,the dilemma of citizens’ choice is becoming increasingly urgent.
The two worlds are here. On the one hand a prime minister and a government that measures every step they take in an effort to maintain social cohesion in the midst of international crises and to support vulnerable groups, families and the middle class and on the other a group of parties planting money trees to hand out money in a queue to everyone.
On the one hand a government and a prime minister who manage to increase revenues by cutting taxes through drastically reducing unemployment, tackling tax evasion and attracting investment, and on the other hand an opposition that as a whole – including the supposedly serious PASOK of Nikos Androulakis – that invests in catastrophism while at the same time asking and promising much more without of course revealing where it will find the resources needed.
On the one hand a prime minister and a government that respects the efforts of the citizens, without whom nothing would be possible and acknowledges this by returning the dividend of the growth achieved, while showing awareness as to the fact that not all problems are automatically solved and on the other hand an opposition that has the magic wand that will wave and solve all problems can and with “a law and an article”.
The easiest thing would be a “give it all”, similar to what the opposition is calling for. Except that this would take the country back to the days of the memorandum and Greece would not be one of the 5 EU countries running a budget surplus.
It would perhaps be one of the 9 countries running deficits and in excessive deficit procedure. Does this remind you of anything? Does it hark back to other times? Is this process the one that leads to cutting spending or raising taxes? Probably yes. And the unfortunate thing is that the opposition parties, at least some of them, know it, but in the face of the “let Mitsotakis go and we’ll see…” mania, they are ready to play the country at dice.
What was said about the surplus, how much more could be given and all that is nothing but a big lie. Unless the goal is new memoranda, or an exit from the euro, or the closure of the banks. It is not an attempt at intimidation. It is the reality as to what could happen.And perhaps it shows the hypocrisy of all those who are now calling for money to be handed out from the helicopter.
What Androulakis, Famellos and other relatives said yesterday is indicative of a mindset that invests in catastrophism and fake news – or, worse still, half-truths. And that at the end of the day, bungling is chosen as a means of political survival or rescue.
