By B. Papadimitriou

For one thing, this administration is always ready to acknowledge the difficulties with which it contends. While keeping a low profile, the government does not dismiss criticism and complaints.

There are plenty of examples, mainly among ministers: Labor and Social Security Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos sympathizes with pensioners’ problems and voices concerns about rising unemployment; National Economy and Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis acknowledges the grim economic picture, even by the standards of the revised figures; Development Minister Giorgos Sioufas admits that inflation is high but his optimism is not shaken; Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos says that political and business entanglement will not disappear with a single piece of legislation and pledges further action in the future; and Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis insists that the quality of the health system will improve only after his war on gurneys in the halls (and big-name doctors).

The public demeanor of government officials is pragmatic through and through. And this is still preferable to the irritating confidence of their Socialist predecessors. People feel that the government is responsive to their grievances.

Realism is good. Solutions, however, are even better. The hands of the political clock are moving fast. The excuse of the presidential election is no more and local elections are drawing near. People know that a good government is that which tries to find solutions, even when not fully prepared.