A minefield for the next government

After carefully reading the agreement reached at the recent meeting of the Eurogroup in Malta, I have drawn the conclusion that (either by coincidence or by design) the government that will win the next Greek elections will as of day one find itself in the middle of a minefield.

The next vote will most probably take place in late 2018 or early 2019, before the introduction of the fresh pension cuts. The new administration will inevitably have to shoulder the cost of further austerity. Furthermore, there are a number of points to consider:

The government will need to solve the problem of collective bargaining agreements. The Malta agreement foresees that the issue will be re-examined after the conclusion of the Greek bailout program, so the hot potato will be in the hands of a different government. Meanwhile, there is good reason to believe that leftist SYRIZA will...