Getting to grips with the refugee crisis

The recently resigned Greek government displayed a high degree of inadequacy in its handling of the growing refugee crisis that is sorely testing both Greece and Europe today.

The SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition sent all the wrong messages when the first signs of the crisis began appearing, and the devastating results are now clear to see. It appeared unable to utilize any help being offered by Europe and failed entirely in designing a plan to manage the massive inflows of people.

The caretaker government that is now in place comprehends the magnitude of the problem and the challenge. It seems to understand that it requires the state mechanism to be put into full gear, as well as much closer cooperation with the European Union.

This, at least, is something positive on this extremely thorny front, particularly for the islands and for certain neighborhoods of Athens that have to handle the majority of these new arrivals.