Leaders must rally around PM
Negotiations with Greece?s international creditors — the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — set to take place in the coming weeks will be crucial in securing the necessary assistance to avert a default.
That said, any agreement on future bailouts and the financial obligations that need to be carried out on the country?s behalf must win the approval of all political parties involved in the power-sharing coalition government led by technocrat Lucas Papademos.
Greece would hard-pressed to find a superior negotiator to its current prime minister, who is a formal central banker with valuable experience in painstaking bargaining, and its party leaders must sit down together with him in a bid to hammer out a common strategy for the country. Doing so would reflect a mature and responsible stance and, at the same time, provide a much-needed tonic for Greece?s crisis-hit population. Doing otherwise would amount to ducking responsibility at a crucial time for the country.