Reintroducing Greece

A new trust is built due to the COVID-19 crisis

Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou on Unsplash

Updated on Apr 12, 2020.

Weathering many storms

As far as I can remember, the last time we felt some sort of national pride was after the “unforgettable, dream Olympic games” of 2004. Just about a month earlier the National football team, an absolute outsider, had won the UEFA Euro 2004 Cup.

The crisis before the crisis

Absence of any serious reforms despite promises, underlying distortions and compiling structural problems in both society and economy, brought Greece to the beginning of the global financial crisis of 2008 completely unprepared.

The economic crisis (and the painfully slow wheels of the justice system) led to the rise of both fascism, virulent nationalism and toxic populism. Mainstream political parties collapsed and it took us 10 years, 6 different Prime Ministers (and administrations) and an unnecessary referendum, to realise that there were no magical solutions. The country suffered badly and came to the verge of abandoning Eurozone with potential catastrophic consequences we luckily will never experience. (For a full recollection of the most dramatic and terrifying period of this crisis I highly recommend “The Last Bluff” by V. Dendrinou and E. Varvitsioti).

A glimmer of hope (at least for those truly believing in liberal democracy) appeared with the last elections. The new government despite some unavoidable missteps managed to inspire new trust to the citizens, to foreign investors and to the world, with decisive measures in public order, education, migration policy. As with every important change these reforms are not welcomed by everyone, but they were long overdue.

Photo by Alexandra on Unsplash

Things were looking good. Then the COVID-19 crisis erupted.

Just 2 months back (almost a lifetime in current situation), economists (FITCH and Bloomberg) projected a bright future for Greece. Things were looking good. Then the COVID-19 crisis erupted. The world was experiencing something totally new. An unprecedented situation that is still evolving and nobody (and I mean NOBODY) actually knows when (or how) this will end. It is first and foremost a health crisis, a policy crisis, an economic crisis and in certain countries like the USA or Hungary already a political crisis. Politico claims that it will change the world forever and you can’t really disagree with them. Just Google: “How COVID-19 will change the world” and knock yourself out. By today, it is absolutely clear that we will all be affected, oneway or another, we just do not know how much yet.

What about Greece?

Greece was one of the first European (and EU) countries that took drastic measures to curtail the spread of the virus earlier than any other EU country but Italy (the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe). By March 14 almost everything was closed and on March 23 a total lockdown was imposed. The administration revealed remarkable reflexes and coordination (something not usual or even expected in our country). Civil Protection was upgraded to a coordinating role and a medical response team led by renowned experts. And all these while Greece was successfully handling a major crisis on its borders and an ongoing migrant crisis on its islands.

• The Ministry of Public Health, despite the shortages we see all over Europe, managed to almost double the ICU beds, thanks largely to the generous support of the private sector.
• The battered National Health System is finally getting the attention it deserves and private health sector folds in to improve capacity. New fast-track initiatives for Public Private Partnerships announced already in Feb (in Greek), will most probably be accelerated.
• The Ministry of Development acted swiftly, ensuring no major disruption in the retail supply chain, new measures were imposed smoothly and emergency protocols were ready in time.
• Within weeks, the Ministry of Digital Governance speed up its plans and opened the new eGov platform, 2 months before its scheduled launch. More than 500 services are now available from one single place.
• The same Ministry, launched #DigitalSolidarityGR initiative calling IT companies to offer their services free or at lower prices, to help remote work, education and recreation.
• The Ministry of Education introduced a bunch of tools for both synchronous and asynchronous education used by more than 1.8 m students.
• The Ministry of Tourism launched the new #tillthenstaysafe campaign inviting people to keep dreaming of Greece, even though travel and vacations may seem too distant today.
• In tourism again a new #GreecefromHome platform will keep the interest for the country live. (Btw, the result is excellent).
• The private sector, from large corporations to smaller companies, chips in with millions of euro in donations.
• Amid this crisis we see new private networks and initiatives working closely with the government. The COVID-19 Response Team, brining together scientists, experts and the startup community on a purely voluntary basis, is probably the most proactive and well organised of them.

A recent poll (Ta Nea, 27.3.2020) reveals an overwhelming support to the government’s response. Whether we like it or not, the vast majority of Greeks seem to comply and to understand the momentousness of the situation. As in every country there is a small minority that spreads fear and disinformation. These people still believe that there is some kind of a global conspiracy and manages to appear (thanks to Social Media) much more influential than they actually are.

Nothing will be easy

Till Then Stay Safe. Photo by Gaddafi Rusli on Unsplash

By now, most of us have realised that the next day nothing will be the same and the world will exit this crisis into recession if not depression. Greece will be badly hit since tourism contributes an almost 25% to our GDP and the effect will probably last throughout 2020.

EU seems still undecided and largely divided, a disappointment to those of us who really believe in this project. We can forget any global initiative by the USA for as long as this president is in office, and of course don’t even think of China as a benevolent global power (see: Politico and FP).

However, unlike the previous economic crisis, this one has spared no one. I believe (or at least I want to) that EU will find a way forward, because it is in no member’s interest to disjoint it. The world will understand the importance of the multilateral organisations because no country can face such challenges alone. EU, ECB, IMF, OECD, WHO realise their power and start to coordinate responses to fight the pandemic without waiting for the country leaders (see links below).

Greece will stand

So we will have a recession. Again. But unlike the economic crisis which left the country divided more than ever since the civil war, untrustworthy, unreliable and defaulted this one may actually be the opportunity we failed to realise last time.

The world is praising the response to the crisis and we finally get some positive feedback (Telegraph, CNN, Business Daily). For the first time since 2004 Greece seams to be proactive, united and believing in its own potential. The administration shows leadership, empathy, initiative. The health crisis of COVID-19 became a catalyst for necessary reforms. We project a new brand. It won’t be easy and it will not be without casualties. But this time we might actually turn this crisis and threat into an opportunity.

UPDATE [Apr 12, 2020]

Since its original publication, Greece appeared numerous times in European and global media. [See: Corriere, Bloomberg, Independent, Politico]. All of them praised the handling of the crisis in these difficult times and presented the country as a success story. Although it is still early for celebrations it seems that we are building a strong brand for the future. I hope we will continue in rebuilding our economy.

References

Responses to COVID-19

• European’s Commission Response to Coronavirus
• ECB response to coronavirus emergency
• IMF and COVID-19
• Joint IMF and WHO Communication
• OECD tackling Coronavirus

Financial Crisis 2008

• The 2007–08 Financial Crisis in Review, Investopedia, May 9, 2019
• Explaining Greece’s Debt Crisis, NYT, Jun 17, 2016
• Greece condemned for falsifying data, FT, Jan 12, 2010 (to understand the full story you also need to read A Statistician’s Ordeal: The Case Of Andreas Georgiou, World Economics, 2019)
• What Democracies Can Learn From Greece’s Failed Populist Experiment, The Atlantic, May 4, 2017
• Golden Dawn: the rise and fall of Greece’s neo-Nazis, The Guardian, Mar 3, 2020
• Rise of Greek nationalist ‘Golden Dawn’ party coincides with Greece’s economic crisis, Pew Research Center, Oct. 2, 2013
• The dangers of resurgent nationalism in Greece, EU Observer, May 25, 2018