Wall Street Journal
December 15, 2010
After the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s back-to-back meetings on Tuesday with opposition party leaders, Greece is no closer to the much needed political consensus to make deep and painful restructuring reforms to dig itself out of its financial hole.
The Mediterranean country’s lenders of last resort -– the International Monetary Fund and the European Union -– have repeatedly called for political cohesion so that the rescue program can work. But it’s too much to expect Greek politicians not to behave like children and put the national interest ahead of their quest for power amid the ruins.
And the silly behavior that largely doomed efforts began from the socialist government itself. They dallied for a month about scheduling the party leader meetings, not knowing what they wanted to ask or how to be persuasive.
Then they finally decided to hold them on the same day, to ram through an omnibus bill under an expedited parliamentary vote to restructure massively indebted state enterprises and make broad brush changes to private sector employment laws.
The government’s own backbenchers are screaming about a deficit of dialogue and democracy. How can ruling PASOK seriously present a predetermined hotchpotch bill and expect other parties to come on board when the consultation occurs after the fact?
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