From breakingviews: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes good but not perfect start, hugodixon writes:
ATHENS - When Kyriakos Mitsotakis met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin yesterday, the new Greek prime minister was able to point to a list of quick wins since taking office last month, including lifting capital controls. But he has also made errors. To change the country for good, he’ll have to learn from them.
Not only has the government this week scrapped capital controls. It is unblocking investment projects, notably the redevelopment of the vast site of the old airport in central Athens. It has embarked on an ambitious project to simplify the state by linking up its cat’s cradle of databases. And it is restoring law and order to the universities, which were previously a no-go area for police.
As a result, Mitsotakis had a good story to tell the German chancellor, his most important creditor. He will want her help in persuading the euro zone to relax the country’s fiscal straightjacket from next year so that he can cut income and corporate taxes. That should give the economy a further boost, which in turn should make the country’s still-humongous debt burden easier to carry.
Some pundits say nothing can be done as such bad practices are part of Greece’s DNA. This is nonsense. When Greeks go abroad they often flourish in efficient and modern institutions. Even so, it won’t be easy to change the culture that lies behind the bad practices. On this score, Mitsotakis has made a few missteps.
The problem with these incidents is that Mitsotakis has prioritised quick wins over establishing general principles. If he wants to create strong institutions, he should run a government based on sensible principles that apply to all.
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