Carpe diem
Developments in our age are so fluid that no one can predict what any country will look like in 10 or 20 years. There are no more «easy» years. There is no time to waste. History did not stop in 1989; we did not all find ourselves at some safe and stable point where each country and each citizen need think only of how to better their lot. Each country needs to see what makes it special, what it can offer the rest of the international community and then, of course, it must make the best use of its revenues, so that its citizens can live well without mortgaging their future with debt. Greece does not seem ready for these great challenges. That is why 2006 will be a critical year. Already, moves to reach a final status for Kosovo may set off new regional turmoil, with the artificially «frozen» Balkan dynamics rushing in to fill the military void when the foreign peacekeeping forces leave the region. International terrorism and the war against it will test every country’s rule of law and democratic values. The search for new alliances and markets will preoccupy every nation until new relationships develop to offer (more or less) security. Europe is trying to find its way. With open political fronts on Cyprus and in the Aegean, Turkey remains a very difficult neighbor – and it will take determination, daring and national consensus to deal with it. Domestically, municipal and provincial elections in October will probably determine political developments to a great extent, as national elections are due by spring 2008. This month, the EU will decide if it accepts the economic program aimed at bringing Greece into line with the other eurozone countries. But with public debt at 200 billion euros and a budget deficit of about 6.6 percent of GDP in 2005, it is clear that the debt will keep sucking away money that should be going to crucial sectors such as education, health and infrastructure projects. The chief reason that 2006 is critical is that we are entering the new year with all the main problems unsolved. The past year marked a tidying-up of the economy, but it did not see the great changes that would form the basis of a more competitive economy and a more dynamic presence on the world stage. With the 2004 Olympics, Greece showed the world that though it is a little country it can still deliver great things. But then it was as if the country disappeared from the world stage. The Tourism Ministry did carry out advertising campaigns but even the crucial tourism sector did not modernize infrastructure sufficiently to multiply the number of visitors who could come to Greece. Nor were measures taken to effectively cut down on bureaucracy and provide incentives for investments. On the contrary, even Greek capital (let alone foreign capital) kept searching for more hospitable markets elsewhere. The year 2005 was also the first one in which we could evaluate the government of Costas Karamanlis. The government showed keen interest in cleaning up many sectors of public life and appeared to know what it wanted. A sign of this (in addition to a readjustment of Greece’s economic indicators to reflect reality) was the stubborn distance it kept from the power centers of business/media interests. And yet, despite its ill-fated effort to curb these powers, the government did not appear ready for confrontation, such as would accompany any effort to impose a program of national revival (which New Democracy had heralded) on a rigid political and social system. That is why 2006 will be crucial for the government: It will either take bold steps in the economy, the labor market, the social security system and education, or it will concede that its four-year term was wasted, that all we got was words and good intentions. Next year, a pre-election year, does not augur well for any unpopular policies. On the other hand, George Papandreou’s new PASOK has not found its footing as the official opposition, let alone as a political force capable of producing proposals that will pull the country out of the doldrums and make it look like one of those Nordic societies that Mr Papandreou so admires. But aside from inner-party experimentation, Mr Papandreou appears to be basing his opposition policy very much on the tried and tested but sterile policy of rejecting everything the government does. Whereas the government needs to dare, the opposition needs to show equal political courage and support measures that will modernize the country. Greece’s problems are too big and the threat too dangerous to be dealt with using the primitive tactics of a political system that seems to have remained unchanged in the 31 years since the restoration of democracy. Both Mr Karamanlis and Mr Papandreou are leaders with an understanding of the future. It would be criminal if they turned their backs on what they know is good for the country. If the new year brings an illumination upon the leadership of the two main parties, so that they understand that their job is to find solutions to problems and not simply to pursue power, then, beside being crucial, 2006 will also be an important year.
