Restoring good will
The meeting Friday called by President Prokopis Pavlopoulos between Greece’s political party leaders to discuss the growing refugee crisis ahead of Monday’s special summit in Brussels produced some basic consensus on a national policy line, while indicating that the leftist-led government is finally adopting a more pragmatic approach to developments.
Friday’s talks however exposed another problematic fact: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and opposition leaders are separated by a big yet genuine lack of trust.
This is not your usual, politically expedient distance between casual partisan foes. The size of the chasm is, in fact, unprecedented in Greece’s recent political history.
The only way to remedy this is for Tsipras to change his style of governance. He must abandon the risky political moves and tactical maneuvering that can only cause damage at the time when national understanding is imperative.
