National aspirations
From the post-dictatorship period starting in 1974 until the mid-1980s, the political conflict between New Democracy and PASOK was chiefly based on foreign policy issues, and particularly issues of concern to our national integrity. The trading of accusations regarding who sold our country out during that period merely created stagnation – or even deterioration – on the level of foreign policy. The best example of this is the Cyprus problem for which, it is now generally accepted, the proposed solutions are only getting worse as time goes on. Today, the political exchange of fire has shifted to the sphere of the economy, and the accusations of the rival sides pertain mainly to questions of social sensitivity or callousness, depending on whether the charges are leveled from within the government or from the ranks of the opposition. And if this vapid dispute continues indefinitely, it will probably culminate in the same outcome as the earlier clash over foreign policy issues affecting our national ones; that is, in the stagnation or deterioration of our already problematic economy… Last week an EU summit of economy ministers decided to subject Greece to two years of supervision for violating the conditions of the Stability Pact with an excessive budget deficit… For Greece to satisfy European standards, national aspirations are more important than European coercion…
