OPINION

Forging ahead

The tumult following the army helicopter crash earlier this month turned attention away from the prime minister’s keynote economic address at Thessaloniki at a time when the financial woes inherited from the Socialist administration have placed an extra load on the shoulders of the government’s economic policymakers. Having decided to expose the true extent of PASOK’s so-called creative accounting, officials at the Economy Ministry have asked all other ministries to trim their spending so they can draft a realistic budget. Given the sorry legacy of its Socialist predecessors, the government has no choice but to attempt to forge ahead. Many ministers are right to point out that the situation bequeathed by PASOK is so problematic that even a marginal improvement will be appreciated by the public. It is high time conservative ministers implemented the reforms contained in New Democracy’s pre-election policy declarations, guided by the valuable conclusions that have been drawn in their first six months in office. Should the government brave opposition from vested interests, big and small, and implement the necessary reforms, its standing will soon improve. Besides, the public mandate the conservatives received was not merely to continue the management of a sorry state of affairs but to break with past practices so that the State can, at long last, function on the basis of clear laws and principles.

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