Never again – Greece cannot afford to make old mistakes this election

It has become fashionable to treat fiscal prudence as some kind of annoying, inexplicable anachronism – a pointless tradition handed down to us from a different time with different needs and different rules.

But, for Greeks, the reality of the havoc that national financial carelessness can cause, in everyday people’s lives, is a recent memory. As our election looms, many Greeks are saying (and praying) “never again” – whist some of our compatriots appear to be suffering from amnesia.

The impact on ordinary people of the financial crash, and of the fantasy economics that followed it in Greece, cannot be overstated.

Household disposable income was reduced – on average – by 40 per cent, with the poorest hit the hardest. Greece suffered the longest recession of any advanced economy, ever. Our government debt was so high that it equated to every Greek citizen owing €30,000 each.

This was not an abstract, macro-financial, technical glitch. This was an everyday catastrophe for millions of Greeks; I remember seeing the endless lines of elderly people and parents with their children, queuing for hours in the baking heat at banks, just to withdraw the permitted €60 of their own money.

As a country, we still feel the scarring of the crisis today. Many of our best and brightest have left, to forge lives in more stable, less chaotic economies.

Partly, of course, this was driven by global events. But the crisis was compounded and fuelled by the imprudence of our governments in responding to global headwinds.

Instead of making difficult decisions to tackle our debts and rebalance our economy, successive left-wing administrations chose to peddle fantasies and promise the people of Greece that free lunches would be back on the menu. The result? Empty bellies and a more fractured, angry politics that is rooted in disappointment and a sense of betrayal.

This is a story with a happy middle and an uncertain end. In 2019, my party – New Democracy – returned to power after a decade of disastrous left-wing governments. The economy has stabilised. Greek ex-pats are coming home. We are on the road to recovery.

It hasn’t been easy, a global pandemic and war in Europe have obviously slowed us down, but we are on our way. The fact that it took us a decade to get to that point is a tragedy of our own making and a lesson to others who are tempted to bet against the fundamental rules of economics. (I am of the view that the UK has every reason to be profoundly grateful to the essential pragmatism and fiscal responsibility of Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt).

But now, our overdue and essential return to prosperity is threatened by its old enemy: left wing politicians promising to spend money that we don’t have and to strangle the businesses we need to create growth.

In 2019, my country finally accepted that there were no magical solutions to our problems and our debt. We woke up. We started – better late than never – the long, hard work of putting our economy right.

We didn’t do that because we don’t love each other and want good things for ordinary Greek people – we did it because we care. Because Greek people deserve to live in a growing, equitable, dynamic economy that delivers for them and meets their hopes and aspirations.

This year, we will have to decide whether we are prepared to finish that work or whether we want to retreat into old, bad habits. For the sake of Greek families, who deserve stability and opportunity, I hope that we will choose to double down on hard work rather than giving up on ourselves.