Unacceptable foot-dragging

In the summer, the SYRIZA-led coalition government signed a third international bailout agreement with the country’s lenders. It was a decision that drew support from all of Greece’s pro-European political parties.

The move led to the split of the leftist party, which nevertheless went on to win the country’s early general elections in September, as most voters endorsed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s U-turn, which resulted in the new deal.

However, senior government officials are now behaving as if the deadlines emanating from the bailout agreement don't exist. They are of course either trying to fool the Greek people, or the lenders or themselves.

Whatever their incentives may be, their foot-dragging is at odds with the urgent need for stability and growth.