Greek central banker Yannis Stournaras pointed to instability on the part of institutions in the country, as well as a lack of credibility and courage on the part of the domestic political system to “tell the people the truth”, as the primary reasons that Greece has still not ended its dependence on bailout memorandums.
In an interview carried in the Athens daily “Kathimerini”, the influential Bank of Greece (BoG) governor and former finance minister described crisis-bedeviled Greece as such: “… we were in a boat taking on water, and instead of closing the hole, we were back-stabbing each other.”
He also pointed directly to the fact that other Euro zone countries that entered bailout and readjustment programs, the now infamous memorandums, after Greece have since exited, and are now posting economic growth.
In citing what he called weaker institutions in the country, compared to other EU states, Stournaras mentioned GDP growth of 8 percent in 2016 for Ireland, as well as economic recoveries in Cyprus, Spain and Portugal, before delving back centuries to find an answer, or a component to the answer, for Greece’s sluggish performance.
“Why? Because, according to some, we (the Greek nation) did not experience the Enlightenment, as we were under Ottoman occupation …” he said, in pointing to the weaker institutional framework in the country, compared to modern European standards.
