New establishment
The effort of stabilizing the economy may have been completed, as the prime minister has said, but since Greece entered the eurozone, everyday incidents demonstrate how unprepared we are to act creatively in the new environment. It has become clear by now that the effort for nominal convergence, which Costas Simitis was referring to, failed to ignite any momentum for broader change. Some changes, however, were made. Some sectors of the economy increased their output, their executives improved their posts, new privileges were set… At the same time, some other sectors, especially those that are connected to the public sector, remained trapped into parochial patterns, into their own old establishment. The clash, generated by the attempt to bring together these different levels of development, modernization and productivity, is inevitable. One merely has to witness the everyday adventures of citizens who are faced with the organizational deficit of the state mechanism; the disappointment caused by the stock market boom in the private and the deregulated productive sector; the anxious efforts of the government to tackle chronic problems in a new fashion; longstanding issues regarding foreign policy and terrorism; and more recent matters such as the organization of the 2004 Olympics. All these demonstrate the difficulties the government will have to overcome in order to adapt to the new circumstances…
