The Sisyphean task of transforming Greece
This is not an easy country; not by a long chalk. A part of it looks and may also be European. Another is deeply Balkan and looks, in fact, a lot like what the international literature would call a “failed state.” The struggle between the two is constant and sometimes it is even violent.
Anyone who is ambitious or crazy enough to govern it has to deal with this struggle between good, European Greece and Greece of yesteryear, between what it could be and what it is at its worst. And the National Railways Organization (OSE), the stationmaster and the events that put him in that seat on that fatal night represent the bad side of Greece in every respect.
OSE is not an isolated case, however. There are dozens of similarly ailing organizations in Greece, even in the most vital sectors of the state apparatus. Whenever state money is involved you will find pockets of greedy and state-dependent parts of the private sector acting without impunity, unionists ready to raise the protest banners on command, officials who happen to be wearing the same luxury watch gifted by some national corruptor, you will find rackets and sundry useless politicos who became public administrators at the behest of their party and because no one qualified wants the job.
Those of us who insist that Greece deserves better are used to disappointment. We see the country like Sisyphus, condemned to an uphill battle without ever reaching the summit, the place where it deserves to be with its potential. Thankfully Konstantinos Karamanlis installed a safety net – the European Union – that prevents us from rolling all the way to the bottom of the hill.
We have seen a lot of prime ministers run out of steam fast or after making an effort. I’m afraid that we also have a habit of setting the bar lower because we are also desperate and because we have become accustomed to things we should never have become accustomed to.
The current prime minister has a very clear picture of where the country should be headed. In some areas, the country has made progress, and quite a lot of it. But this government has also made mistakes. No one can change the state alone, nor can they promise to change Greece 0.5 to Greece 2.0 in just a few years. Such undertakings require humility, and what the government is paying for right now is overselling its managerial capabilities. It settled for many of the bad habits of bad Greece and in some instances acted as if it owned the country. Some of the examples are painful and make people mad. The condition of our hospitals is a case in point. Greece is changing, but important areas are being left behind.
So the big question is who can win the battle against Greece of yesteryear? If you expect a knockout, you’ll be disappointed. If your expectations are more realistic, be sure to choose for the role of Sisyphus – oops, sorry, I meant prime minister – a person who can push the country a bit further up the hill. The risk for the country and for anyone who feels like Sisyphus is that fatigue will make them stop pushing the rock and let it bring them down. The vote, like politics, is about what is possible.
