Our national sport on foreign fields

The government spokesman was enraged, accusing Kyriakos Mitsotakis of "never missing an opportunity to defame Greece abroad," following the opposition leader's comments at a European People's Party summit on Wednesday.

A few days earlier, speaking at the European Parliament plenary on the future of Europe, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saw fit to attack his country's opposition party. This did not disturb the government spokesman.

And so the traditional sport of Greek politicians trading accusations before a foreign audience goes on, with the aim of gaining influence abroad while scoring points at home. Those who play this never seem to consider the damage that they do to the country's credibility.

This combination of cynicism and childish vindictiveness was the point of a letter that Jean-Gabriel Eynard, a Swiss banker and friend of the Greeks, wrote to Otto...