Editorial Ta Nea: Pledges

Britain’s tumultuous political life over the last years has many lessons for those who have the luxury of observing it from a distance as a third party.

The self-destructive course that began with the decision to hold a Brexit referendum reached a peak with the constant replacement of prime ministers, offering an important lesson to all governments and electorates of Western countries.

The lesson is that the absence of a serious economic policy can lead even a state that belongs to the club of the planet’s seven strongest economies to conditions that are reminiscent of the developing world.

The pledge of benefits similar to those offered under the Scandinavian model – which is based on high taxation – with simultaneous tax cuts for the wealthiest was unfeasible and could not possibly have gone unnoticed by the markets.

As everyone knows, the markets are unforgiving. They punish harshly.

We here in Greece learned that the hard way.

We are also learning the lesson that London offers other European capitals, which is that at times political systems instead of solving problems aggravate them.

Economic crises often result from political crises.

Consequently, whoever seeks the vote of citizens must think twice and thrice about what they pledge.