ND must change its tune
Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece’s conservative main opposition party, is right to criticize the Socialist government for opting for a tax-first economic policy mix that is pushing the country deeper into recession. Samaras is not an economy expert. Both the voters of this country as well as local and foreign observers who have put our troubled economy under the microscope treat Samaras as a politician who could one day succeed George Papandreou at the helm of the country. This means that he is expected to come up with concrete proposals about how he intends to pull Greece out of its current economic misery and back into the financial markets where it can borrow money in 2011. Generalizations about «exploiting state property» or about a «more growth-oriented mix» are not enough to convince voters or analysts. Citizens are more mature these days. They expect painful but pragmatic proposals. They will not fall for vague pledges – like Papandreou’s infamous «There is money» statement – or campaigns against the IMF-EU memorandum without any realistic proposals.
