Equal among equals
Even the bigger countries in Southern Europe are beginning to feel the heat of the debt crisis and it can be taken for granted that some serious decisions regarding the future of the common currency will be reached within the next few weeks as eurozone members address ways to safeguard it.
For Greece to be able to sit down at the table with its eurozone counterparts and be a part of this process, it needs to regain its credibility. So far, the government has pursued the right strategy by putting the country?s commitments to its lenders first and leaving its demands aside for the time being.
This strategy takes perseverance and patience, but it is the only way to ensure that the country?s best interests and that it is not left out of a European solution to the bloc?s problems. This would be a terrible shame given the sacrifices made by the people.
Greece needs a comprehensive negotiating strategy that ignores the narrow interests of selfish forces within the country, that is not based on blackmailing our European peers and that is not meant to merely sound good to the public.
