Welcoming a discussion organized in Limassol by DISY on "Lessons from the management of the economic crisis in Greece and Cyprus - The next day", Haris Georgiadis said that the exit of Cyprus from the memorandum is a key point of which we are all called to learn so that we will never again find ourselves "in the same desperate impasse."
Specifically and referring to five lessons of the crisis, the Minister of Finance said that procrastination and timidity in making difficult but necessary decisions is a recipe that leads to disaster, while the constant expansion of public spending, deficits and debt is not equivalent to a socially sensitive policy, but instead ultimately burdens citizens and the development perspective.
In addition, he continued, the lesson is that taxes in times of recession lead the economy to an even deeper quagmire, that banks must responsibly manage the money that depositors trust them, while borrowers must also be held accountable, and finally, the path of populism , dogmatism, denial and slogans lead nowhere.
Especially for the latter, which, as he said, is perhaps the most important, Mr. Georgiadis underlined that “the solutions are given by realism, pragmatism and the disposition to make difficult but necessary decisions and this particular lesson must we have in mind now that we are called to manage this second opportunity that we have secured through efforts, sacrifices and systematic effort ".
At the same time, he noted that we may be on a path of recovery and development again, but "we must continue the effort, because despite progress there is still much to be done", adding that "we must find the strength to resist those with slogans and shouts want to take us back to the old days, because we must keep our country on the path of responsibility, consistency and foresight ".
Keynote speakers at the event were DISY President Averof Neophytou and New Democracy President Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who in his speech referred to the importance for Greece to learn lessons from the way Cyprus handled the crisis, resulting in its exit. memorandum after 3 years, while Greece has been on adventures for another 6 years.
"There are many lessons we can learn from the successful effort of Cyprus, but the most important is one, we in our country must also face in its heart the populism which unfortunately poisons the political dialogue and does not allow us to explain rationally and these arguments that must happen in the country ", said Mr. Mitsotakis.
He also said that Greece is facing a 3rd memorandum which, as he pointed out, a year ago was unnecessary, while he expressed his confidence that if the course of the previous Greek Government had not been disrupted and early elections had not taken place, today Greece would had come out of the memoranda.
There is, he continued, a very specific political responsibility because Greece is still captive to the memoranda, "a catastrophic negotiation that led the country to the brink of collapse, which reached us a few meters from the exit to the euro and which finally forced us, under suffocating pressure, to sign a third memorandum ".
Criticizing the manipulations of the Government and SYRIZA "which claimed to represent something new, but in fact proved to have systematically adopted old practices of the old political system", the President of New Democracy said that his party is committed to "take a final divorce from populism, we will speak to the Greeks in the language of truth, we will explain to them that we can achieve fiscal consolidation and growth at the same time, to convince them that our country today, despite the great problems, has the ability to make leaps towards front".
He pointed out that in this effort the example of Cyprus will always be an extremely timely and useful example and that "yes, we too can get out of the crisis in Greece if we learn some of the lessons of the way in which Cyprus dealt with crisis".
Summing up what Cyprus managed to achieve in contrast to Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the way in which the political system treated the citizens "in the language of truth", to the methodology with which the program was implemented and to the way it was treated. Troika, the way fiscal consolidation took place, the mix of fiscal policy pursued, structural reforms, political culture and honest political dialogue, but also the Cypriot public itself, which in its view showed a greater understanding of that possibly the Greek.
Our small country is becoming an example of a modern feat, said on his part the President of DISY Averof Neophytou, who pointed out that the challenge of the next day is, through the crisis, to manage to come up with a more modern and efficient state, making "the best Cyprus".
Recalling that exactly three years after March 2013, Cyprus is leaving the memorandum, he stressed that "as a country we regain our dignity and our national sovereignty and we become masters of our country again".
In his speech, Mr. Neophytou referred to three main axes, on the basis of which we must work today, with the first concerning the "deprivation of profit", explaining that we want our businesses to be active and profitable again, because without winning, they can neither develop new sectors, nor create jobs ”.
The second axis, he continued, is the creation of a reliable environment for attracting investments, the fight against bureaucracy and trust in our country, while the third axis, according to the President of DISY, concerns the reform in all sectors.
"We are working for radical reforms that change the data," he said, noting that the results may not yet be visible to all citizens, "but woe to us if we risk all these sacrifices we have made and have laid the solid foundation for a better future." day for our country ".
He expressed his determination to refute those who fear that we will not be able to do it alone without the troika and stressed that "we will not risk the sacrifices of this people, for any temporary political benefit."
"We will remain the permanent enemies of Populism, irrational wants and auspicious slogans because we are building a better Cyprus and we are determined to achieve responsibility, rationality and prudence," he added.
Finally, referring to the Cyprus issue, Mr. Neophytou said that "we will insist on trying to reach an honest compromise, a compromise that will release the real potential of our entire Cyprus."
Source: KYPE