Reforms: If not now, when?
The pre-election period was long, and exhausting. It essentially started in January and ended six months later. The fatigue of government officials and party cadres is reasonable and a given. In a small country like Greece, parties don’t have the luxury of having one team that prepares the government program for the next four years and another that runs the pre-election campaign. Everyone does everything.
The problem here is that the country needs major reforms that cannot wait. Because if they don’t happen now, when will they? Greece has a prime minister who knows the issues in depth and, together with a select team, believes in the need for reform. Kyriakos Mitsotakis achieved an electoral triumph and has no opponent, neither inside nor outside New Democracy. He is the master of the game. There could not be a more ideal time to make some brave changes.
From the programmatic statements and the early days of the government’s second term, the initiative to establish non-state universities stood out as a prominent reform-minded commitment. However, in other sectors, all we got was fragmented announcements, sometimes resembling patchwork solutions. A comprehensive, concrete and well-designed narrative was certainly lacking.
There are undoubtedly numerous areas that require immediate and radical decisions: justice, environmental protection, higher education (beyond the revision of Article 16 of the Constitution), improved tourism planning, public healthcare, public safety, and the modernization of the armed forces, which are about to receive a new generation of equipment while relying on 20th-century infrastructure. None of these areas can be adequately addressed through mere superficial adjustments. Likewise, the challenges at hand cannot be resolved by relying solely on a single legislative act or impractical laws.
The prime minister is rightfully prioritizing the resolution of inequalities and wage injustices in specific sectors of the public realm. Development should benefit everyone and leave no one behind. However, as we move beyond the pre-election period, it is time for decisions that may spark conflicts and may not necessarily be universally popular. Without making these decisions, we may enjoy a few years of prosperity, but when faced with the first major challenge, we will realize the fragility of our foundations. Reforms are imperative. Once again, we emphasize that if they are not implemented now, then when will they be?
