Editorial: Recipes

The government's policies will determine whether there will be a dynamic economic restart or whether the country will enter a protracted and disastrous quagmire.

By all accounts domestic and foreign the government appears to have successfully passed the first hurdle of the coronavirus pandemic and the vast majority of citizens (over 80 percent in a recent poll) acknowledge that.

Have we transcended all the difficulties? Hardly.

The tough part begins now for a government that was lauded for its public health policy but now will be judged strictly on its management of the huge economic challenges that lie ahead.

Its policies will determine whether there will be a dynamic economic restart or whether the country will enter a protracted and disastrous quagmire.

That means that planning and absolute transparency are paramount.

Under no circumstances should the government allow even a suspicion that it will seek to serve partisan special interests or social and professional groups that are pro-government.

Greek society must not be poisoned by any more miscalculations.

The necessary roadmap and plan must be accompanied by the right method of implementing it.

These two crucial factors and their proper linkage will determine the future of the Greek economy.

The terms of the economic restart are similar to those adopted in the grueling but necessary decision to enforce a lockdown.

It requires the same speed, maturity, and effectiveness that the government achieved in handling the public health crisis triggered by the pandemic.

Now we know.

There is no other recipe.