Editorial: Alchemy

The initial hypotheses were confirmed by the PM’s address to his parliamentary group. Alexis Tsipras does not intend to use the process of amending the Constitution in order to address contemporary challenges with which Greece is confronted, but rather in order to serve his petty partisan designs.

In this manner, he is sacrificing one of the most important institutional procedures at the altar of concerns that have nothing to do with the public interest.

A country’s basic law enshrines all the vital functions of politics, the economy, and social life. That means that any move requires the utmost respect and responsibility.

No constitutional amendment process should be undertaken without the requisite institutional depth, authority, and value. No revision should cater to populist or other types of thinking that injure instead of bolster the democratic form of government.

All opposition parties noted this important void in the government’s initiative. It is the duty of the government to hear the voice of democratic opposition parties and immediately abandon its games for the sake of substance, of democracy, and of the country.

The country has paid enough for the prime minister’s self-confessed self-deceptions, for partisan delusions, and for governmental acrobatics. The price was heavy and the cost huge.

There is no reason for the Constitution now to pay the price of an outlook which – from the manner of election of the President of the Republic to the Church-State separation – relies on alchemy.