The Economist titles this article with "Promises, promises...". Given that it is The Economist, one could assume that all allegations are true, and they are rather discouraging allegations. Nevertheless, there is always another side to a story and I am certain that Greece could tell the other side.
To uninformed outsiders, it would just be very useful to always have both sides of the story, so that one's mind can be made up independently. Why does Greece not establish some form of a PR-office which would communicate to the world (and, above all, to the Greek population) what the situation really is.
In this particular case, that PR-office would list the 300 agreed-upon reform steps; comment on the 100 which have been implemented and with what success; and on the other 200 which have not been implemented as agreed and why not.
An if the public were not to trust a Greek PR-office, then perhaps an EU-entity like Eurostat could establish one, instead.
To uninformed outsiders, it would just be very useful to always have both sides of the story, so that one's mind can be made up independently. Why does Greece not establish some form of a PR-office which would communicate to the world (and, above all, to the Greek population) what the situation really is.
In this particular case, that PR-office would list the 300 agreed-upon reform steps; comment on the 100 which have been implemented and with what success; and on the other 200 which have not been implemented as agreed and why not.
An if the public were not to trust a Greek PR-office, then perhaps an EU-entity like Eurostat could establish one, instead.
I don't think putting more lipstick on the PIIG's is a reasonable solution, leading to a sustainable recovery. Or do you really believe the amount of reforms passed AND implemented so far gives any reason for optimism, and that there are huge successes which haven't been adequately presented to the public? I, for one, suspect that the "100 out of 300" number actually makes the reality look much better than it is. The problem isn#t only the huge backlogs of reforms on which work hasn't even been started, it's also that the progress is totally abitrarily, lacking any focus. For instance, if those 100 reforms had been centered on modernizing the administration, we would see real progress in Greece. But that ain't so, it's a chaotic mess instead, even including totally unproductive setbacks (look at the new university reform, replacing a one year old one that hadn't been implemented at all!). Sorry, but I really don't think better PR can help when there is almost nothing positive to report.
ReplyDeleteExcept that the main point of the reforms is "make the vast majority -excludes the people who brought the country to this mess and their friends- dirt poor" and change by law even private contracts, then expect Greece to pay back the loans. Some reforms.
Delete