OPINION

Every word counts

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is a knowledgeable and educated man. That said, he is no longer an academic or a university professor. In fact Pavlopoulos is nothing less than the head of state of Greece. Anything that he says has a special significance.

For that reason, his comments Tuesday in the town of Argos, in the Peloponnese, were very unfortunate. After urging the Greek people to safeguard their national legacy and a future that is “equal in worth,” Pavlopoulos pointed out that “the economy and the currency have meaning only when they are put in the service of people.”

Last summer Pavlopoulos played a key role in preventing a Greek exit from the euro area and history will remember this. However, comments such as those he made Tuesday play into the hands of euroskeptic populists and at the same time undermine his institutional role.

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