We Greeks have the deplorable habit of often demonizing foreign officials who visit our country as representatives of international powers, global organizations and our creditors.

We blame them personally for the positions they display on all the various issues which it is their job to address.

There comes a time, however, when we must realize that these representatives very rarely operate according to whim or their own personal point of view when it comes to dealing with matters of policy.

As a rule, they speak, engage in dialogue and act based on explicit and specific orders passed down by their superiors.

It is therefore foolish -- not to mention more often than not counterproductive with regard to our own interests -- to launch personal attacks on “Mr Nasty-So-and-So,” as if the decisions they voice and their apparent obsessions on certain issues were only their own.

At this high level, policy is mapped out according to specific interests and facts and figures alone.