OPINION

Matching actions with words

Speaking Thursday during a special event marking the handover of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) to the Greek state, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed that his government will prove the skeptics wrong and make sure that the state-of-the-art complex is in safe hands.

As control of the spectacular new facilities and park on Athens’s southern coast passes from the private foundation to the state, one hopes that the premier and his leftist-led coalition will match pledges with pragmatic decisions in terms of the new management.

This is the minimum that the people of this country expect of the government, which is eager to be seen as a backer of the arts.

For its part, the public has, from the very first moment, embraced the complex – which will house the National Library and Opera – and is naturally concerned about its future, given the Greek state’s poor track record when it comes to maintaining and fostering the arts. Only time will tell.

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