An easy target
…The recent debate about the state economy was an easy target for the new government. The corruption and wastefulness which characterize our economy, the lack of firmness in state management and the attempt to please all voters worked together to burn a bigger hole in state coffers. However much the PASOK opposition may insist that it reined in the state deficit over the last decade, no one is convinced – least of all the citizens who paid for it, and dearly. It is time for PASOK to realize that it was not voted out of power for this reason, but due its arrogance, the fact that it distanced its cadres from the everyday life of citizens, and because it left its country at the mercy of misbehaving contractors and other state «partners.» But Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis owes it to his people to be clearer. As he has nothing to add to the data his minister sent to the European Commission’s statistics service, it would be better if he left everything until September discussions and the unveiling in November of the budget for 2005. Indeed, if we are to judge by reforms affecting contract workers, compound interest and other areas, we can conclude that the State has become even more lax in its administration of economic affairs than it was before. However, because any judgments about the current government would be premature, we should wait for fall before drawing conclusions…
