Dormant land mines

The Greek economy was nearly brought to its knees at the start of the previous decade by the weight of the social security system.

Nevertheless, state spending on pensions is again starting to grow disproportionately, not just as a result of the recession brought on by the pandemic, but also because of the extraordinary payouts prompted by a number of court decisions on pension cuts.

The lesson that the political system today should learn from the earlier crisis is that land mines which remain buried are just dormant but continue to pose a risk for the future.