Building trust takes work
Trust is one of those things that are easy to lose and hard to win back. This is a fundamental principle that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had best remember as he meets today with the leaders of other political parties.
If consensus is what he is honestly looking for by calling this meeting with the leaders of New Democracy, PASOK, Potami and the Union of Centrists, then he needs to prove it and build a relationship of trust with the opposition parties.
One hopes he is not going into the meeting for opportunistic reasons alone, to ensure votes from the others when it comes to the most painful of reforms having to be ratified by Parliament and to appear like a good guy in the public mind. For there to be a positive result from the meeting, Tsipras will have to exercise some earnest self-criticism and own up to his mistakes.
