No more waste or favors
The government’s economic staff have just announced a series of measures to try to stabilize the economy and set ambitious goals toward increasing tax revenues and cutting back on unnecessary public expenditures. Our experience from the previous administrations under former PM Costas Karamanlis has taught us that such goals cannot be achieved unless the prime minister himself makes the message loud and clear to all ministers and government officials that either they curb expenses within their own areas of jurisdiction or they start looking for a new job. The only way to get the kind of results the government is looking for today is for all members to heed new regulations and follow a coordinated policy across the board. Otherwise, ministers will be tempted to want to put themselves across as the good guys in these financially murky times, and they will be able to do so only at the expense of the economy. Everyone in the government also needs to fully understand that this is crunch time for the Greek economy and there is absolutely to room for waste and favors.
