There are reasons to be optimistic…

Posted by Costas Stopas

There are reasons to be optimistic…

In less than a month from today we shall know whether the poll will be justified, and above all whether conditions exist for a stable government of four years to emerge from the next or subsequent elections which will follow a month later.

If the tragic incident had not happened in Tempe, the first election of simple proportion would have already taken place and we would already have a clearer picture of what was to follow…

Also, if it had not preceded the incident in Tempe, the chances of a self-sufficient government from the next elections would be greater, and thus the concerns of the country’s productive base would be smaller…

What is ironic about the global upheaval of our rational civilization is that government pays more political cost to the Tempo issue, which bears less responsibility, and less to the comic watch story which bears more responsibility, even if it does. Under her nose were grave crimes…

Over the past four years, explosive existential challenges to the nation and important strategic shifts have taken place in Greece, which will shape the country’s course in the coming decades…

In principle, in 2015, after the conditions created by the bankruptcy of 2010, although the Electoral College gave the opportunity to the forces of reactionary ethnic populism to put the country into adventures similar to those of Syria or Turkey, the note of Mr. Tsipras kept us on the bandwagon of Europe…

In the four years from 2015 to 2019, we have seen that talk of mass nationalizations, drachmas, and the search for “safe havens” in other ports are nothing more than hoaxes of demagogues who make a living on subsidies in the eurozone and do not risk it even for the sake of power bigger political…

In the past four years, the country has stabilized its position in the West and its commitment to some basic economic choices, as defined by engagement in its economic and political world…

In the four years 2019-2023, despite important challenges such as the pandemic and the crisis with Turkey and despite many failures, Greece managed to influence both by managing these important challenges and by performing some economic reform…

The management of the pandemic has been generally successful, thanks to the timely adoption of measures and the effective management of population dispersal and vaccination by the Greek public administration. Although our country lags behind in the effective functioning of the public health system, we have managed to avoid scenes like the ones we saw happening in Bergamo, New York, etc.

The management of the crisis with Turkey was also successful both in the Ebro, in the midst of an epidemic, and in the eastern Aegean, where the hybrid offensive by Turkey aimed to seize even undisputed territories, destabilizing Greece and its satellites in Turkey, which is emerging as a rising regional power in the wider region.

If Greece had failed in the Ebro, today there would be a few hundred thousand uncontrolled migrants within it, many of whom would be working under the orders of neighboring services with the aim of destabilizing both our country and the European Union.

If the Greek armed forces and diplomacy, which were amazing in their duration and effectiveness, had not been mobilized in the eastern Mediterranean, today we would have Turkish diggers in the disputed areas and the Turkish-Libyan memorandum in force …

Agreements with France, the USA, Egypt, Israel, etc., together with the rapid arrival of Rafale aircraft and the presence of Type 214 submarines played a decisive role in preventing the power of a country with eight times the population and three times the GDP. From Türkiye.

In retrospect, much of this may seem like a given, but I doubt it would be, with any other government at the helm…

In the economy despite the pandemic “lockdown”, the energy crisis and inflation, the country has managed to impressively increase investment, reduce unemployment, increase exports to historically high levels, and achieve GDP growth above the EU average. And debt reduction as a percentage of GDP is faster than other countries in Europe…

The latest S&P 500 report is impressive. Here are some highlights from the latest report:

Economic activity grew by 5.9% in real terms in 2022, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, despite an energy shock to Greece and its trading partners.

Investments rose to 21.4% of GDP at the end of 2022, up 9 percentage points from the end of 2019, while exports as a percentage of GDP are estimated to have grown by 20 percentage points over the past decade.

– The high growth of nominal GDP (thanks in part to the strong growth in GDP) has led to a significant decline in Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio in recent years. Net debt peaked at 188% of GDP in 2020, and the house now estimates that it will drop to 145% of GDP by the end of 2023. Greece has seen the largest drop in its debt-to-GDP ratio among EU countries . in 2022.

S&P expects a further decline in 2024-2026 based on steady economic growth and improving financial performance.

Certainly there are many omissions and delays such as the failure to enforce order in the universities, the assessment in the state, the lawlessness of justice…

But it would be unfair to overlook or take for granted the amazing strides that have been made in some other area…

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