OPINION

Opposition tactics and road blocks

Ruling New Democracy has certainly regretted the fact that it vacillated in its stance toward farmers taking action by blocking the country’s highways back in the day when the opposition, PASOK, was in power. It is also certain that the day will come when PASOK, should it find itself ruling the country, will also rue its stance on the blockades today. Adopting a populist tone when a party is in opposition comes at a heavy price when that party eventually takes power. Everyone knows that the agricultural sector as it stands today is bound to hit a wall at some point and that throwing money at the problem simply exacerbates it in the long run. The government’s responsibility lies in the fact that when it was in opposition it decided to follow the same path of the past by making big promises and uttering half-truths, and now it is being severely judged for this. PASOK is also making the same mistake now. Instead of pointing to the real source of the problem, it condemns the blockades with one hand while extending the other to the farmers as a gesture of respect for their decisions. The problem with all this is that it neither helps the country in the long term, nor does it help the party.

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