Editorial: Mockery

The government is treating the issue of pension cuts as a major affair.

From the manner with which it is handling the issue, however, it is obvious that its basic concern is not the survival of pensioners, but rather its own survival.
The government is afraid that pension cuts will transform its expected electoral defeat into a real decimation.

That fear does not justify the government’s games with pensioners.

It is impermissible for government cadres to imply or clearly state that the cancellation of pension cuts is essentially a given, when in fact there has been no tangible result from talks with creditors.

A mockery of such proportions is impermissible, especially when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and now the IMF are demanding unswerving implementation of a measure that the government has already passed into law.

Simply put, if a government is not entitled to play with the anxieties of citizens, that is all the more true when the issue involves pensioners.

Senior citizens cannot become victims of the magical picture that the government wants to convey about pensions. The issue involves the toils of a lifetime.

Pensions have been cut a number of times by previous governments during the crisis, and this government agreed to cut them once again, before confronting the frightful political cost.