Editorial: Need for consensus on economic plan

The sequence of visits of political party leaders to the Thessaloniki International Fair ended with main opposition New Democrcacy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ address and news conference. Hence, both the commercial and the political segments of the Fair concluded yesterday.

From the political perspective, which was expressed in the positions of political party leaders, the conclusion is that there is still a need to draft a national economic recovery plan, which must be based on a minimum political consensus. That need, in the eighth year of the crisis, is dire.

Party leaders that spoke at the Thessaloniki International Fair appeared to be aware of this need. The prime minister was moderate in his speech, which was a far cry from his demagogic speech in Ithaca, marking the exit from the bailout memorandum.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a message of unity, underlining that solutions are not right-wing or left-wing, but just plain solutions. Other political party leaders’ statements were along the same lines.

It would be disastrous if that minimum policy consensus that emerged at the Thessaloniki International Fair were to be betrayed. It would be catastrophic for healthy disputes between parties, for political dialogue, and for differences of opinion to be replaced by polarisation and divisive rhetoric, in a clash to the finish and a no-holds-barred war.

This approach is needed if the country is to be in a better condition at next year’s Thessaloniki International Fair, and not a country that has cannibalised itself.