Editorial: A country betrayed

Fatalists, not entirely unjustifiably, might invoke the hapless fate that constantly pursues us.

Every time Greece tries to take a breath and stand on its feet, something happens and it loses its way.

It is as if is being chased by an ancient Sisyphean curse, condemned perpetually to struggle, burdened, to climb a mountain, and just as it is approaching the pinnacle, to plunge back to the ground, wounded, only to commence the same attempt from scratch.

European Athletics Championships: Gold medal for Greece's Antigoni Drisbioti in the 35 km walk

In the country's post-regime change history (after the collapse of the 1967-1974 military junta), there were innumerable such instances of backpedaling that battered the Greek people.

In 1985, the country made a choice that was decisive for its future. Threatened by the twin deficit in public finances and the balance of payments, it decided to attempt to adjust to the EU model and norms.

At that time, the prime minister, Andreas Papandreou, implemented an ambitious three-year plan of economic stabilisation and structural reforms.

At the end of that programme, the entire demanding effort was literally betrayed by domestic realities.

The first was the usual pre-electoral priority of handouts, and the second was the revelation of the huge Koskotas scandal, which highlighted power plays that derailed the country from its path.

By 1989, in a span of just two years, all of the people's sacrifices had been squanderd, and the country again faced the prospect of bankruptcy.

Then, in 1990, when the country was able to achieve a certain balance and then PM Konstantinos Mitsotakis managed to put Greece on a European course once again, the effort collapsed under the weight of the...