Written by Eva Kaili
The strategic
significance of Greece as a stabilizing force, and its democratic values, with
undeniable soft power in the Arab world, has once again emerged in the regional
scene. Athens should assume this role once again, writes Eva Kaili.
We are in the last
phase of this period. The Greek people have made great sacrifices and achieved
economic results that nobody expected a few years before, including a primary
surplus, balanced budgets, rapid stabilization, and international confidence
that the Greek economy is much more disciplined and with more sustainable debt,
than many other, alleged, healthy, strong and sound eurozone economies.
However, monolithic
austerity without economic growth provision proved to be a devastating crisis
management concept, which deepened and widened the consequences of the crisis,
both socially, politically, and economically. Now, everybody understands that
this approach of crisis management causes more problems than the ones it
attempts to resolve, and it is not necessary to be an economist to realize it.
The situation in Greece today
This is the fifth year
in the austerity program and we can see the onerous results. The GDP of Greece
has fallen about 40% since the beginning of the crisis, and this indicates a
recession similar to the recession that a country experiences after a
disastrous war. 3.5 million People of the population live below the 60% of
median disposable income, 21% below the poverty line and the 11% in “extreme
material deprivation”. Moreover, 27% of the population lives at the risk of
poverty. Additionally, the current unemployment rate approaches 28%, whereas
the youth unemployment rate is almost 50%. These figures depict the situation
vividly and everybody can understand that the prominent social sentiment of the
Greek population today is a mix of anger, depression and hopelessness.
Hopelessness combined
with uncertainty creates a dangerous political mix. The radical leftist party,
SYRIZA, capitalizes on the citizens’ uncertainty and ignorance to create the
illusion of a better political universe, promising re-negotiations, cease of
payment of the sovereign debt, even printing 100 billion Euros (!) On the other
hand, the conservative party, Nea Demokratia, uses the uncertainty and ignorance
of the citizens to rise the fear of the “sudden death” in case of a SYRIZA
elections victory.
PASOK, the social
democrats, stands in the middle and strives with a responsible political
reasoning, to mitigate the fear of the people, to explain them the actual
situation, the prospects, and the potential of the day after the elections, in
order they to make an informed and rational choice. At the same time PASOK is
the only political force that tries to minimize the danger of the Golden Dawn,
the neo-Nazi party, winning the third place in the election, which may cause
problems in the formation of a coalition government after the elections.
With the eyes in the day after the elections
I believe that the
outcome of the elections must neither endanger the achievements of the efforts
of the Greek citizens gained so far, nor the strong negotiation power we have
gathered, nor our strong presence in the core of the EU. We envisage that
Greece has a strong prospect and potential in a Europe that changes rapidly,
and it is time for us to harvest the fruits of our great efforts.
To do so, we need to
first maintain economic stability and avoid “heroic” behaviors and surprises.
Greece managed to stay in the core of the EU, and this allows us to use all the
political and economic tools that the EU gives us.
The harmful
one-dimensional austerity approach has fallen and we are entering a new era.
Gradually, the EU employs an expansionist fiscal view starting with the Juncker
plan. Greece should be there to assert its “dividend to development”
successfully. Moreover, we urgently need to consolidate the country’s safety
net. Greece faces the danger of a humanitarian crisis and this danger should be
mitigated with a targeted social aid program.
We need to stabilize the
Greek market and create a safe environment in order to build confidence. This
entails a stable and fair tax system which encourages entrepreneurship, a
moderate regulation of the labour market in order to build new jobs as well as
stable working conditions, and a wise and optimal market design which allows
the benefits of the competitive advantages of the Greek products and services
to materialize, strengthens the financing capacity of the market participants,
and encourages the creation and marketing of innovation.
Last but not least,
Greece, despite the crisis, is still the most stable country in the Eastern
Mediterranean. Today, we experience the Islamic turn of Ankara with its
provocations in the Cypriot EEZ, ISIS in Syria, and the consequences of the
Arab Spring in North Africa. The strategic significance of Greece as a stabilizing
force and its democratic values, with undeniable soft power in the Arab world,
has once again emerged in the regional scene. Athens should assume this role
once again.
The newly-elected
government's first essential task is an "exodus" from the current
situation, by building on all the efforts that have been made until now. No one
will be excused from stopping the reform efforts leading to a better future.
The new elected government should make all the efforts to unify the people
against the only enemy, taking steps backwards. The opposition has to support
and cooperate with the new government. I have always believed in compromises,
cooperation and argumentative discussions.
(Πηγή: euractiv.com)
