IMF's Bob Traa to Kathimerini: Greek politicians failed to forge the necessary consensus

Bob Traa, the first International Monetary Fund representative in Greece after the country signed its first bailout program, has blamed the Greek political system for failing both to introduce the necessary reforms in the early stages of the program and to forge a degree of political consensus to deal with serious matters.

In this exclusive interview with Kathimerini, Traa, who was often subject to criticism for being a hardline technocrat, has much to say about the early bailout years. The Dutch official claims that vested interests resisted reforms in the product market which meant that the cost of adjustment fell on the shoulders of workers who saw their incomes drop.

He also accepts that mistakes were made in communicating the need for reforms in a better way to the public, while looking back on his years in Greece he admits he would have liked to see more of the...