EU accuses Athens of dragging its heels on reform
EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis on Wednesday expressed concern about Greece's economic situation. In the eyes of the Commission several of the reforms agreed since the bailout programme ended last summer are not progressing fast enough. Now a dividend payment of around one billion euros to Athens could be withheld. Greek commentators see little grounds for optimism.
Don't ignore the warning signals
To Vima Online is deeply concerned about Greece:
“The high level of public debt, non-performing loans, unemployment, the aging of the population, and the migration issue, are undermining the very foundations of the economy.These warning signs are aggravated by a pre-electoral climate. Polarising clashes and opportunistic, petty partisan objectives are once again threatening to undermine anything positive that has been achieved over the last years. It may well be that it will again be demonstrated that the country’s problems are not primarily economic, but instead political.”
Careerists are not thinking about the people
The ruling politicians should concentrate on the economy, writes an exasperated Ta Nea:
“Instead of remaining focused on the target, the government is preoccupied with other matters. Even the finance minister wastes energy on party politics, on his political activity in the Group of 53, a sort of self-styled leftist opposition within SYRIZA. Meanwhile, the MP is trapped in a political impasse and is preoccupied with pillaging the centre-left’s cadres and political base. All this is certainly part of politics, but politics cannot be conducted with clashes and without taking into account the citizenry – their anxieties and problems.”