Italian "L'Espresso": Greece's revenge - It was one step before exiting the euro and went into recovery

“When Alexis Tsipras was forced to accept a gallows agreement, with which he saved the country but the promises to his voters were broken,” the magazine writes.

“Ten years later, the great upheaval arrives”

The publication adds that “in 2019, the conservative Kyriakos Mitsotakis won the elections” and in its analysis underlines: “Ten years later, the great upheaval arrives. That group of ministers, the Eurogroup, which wanted the country out of the euro, last week appointed a Greek, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, as its head. In his speech, he declared that he wants to transform the twenty members of the euro, "into a single body, from North to South, from East to West, overcoming the old divisions into moderates and spendthrifts."

The historical magazine of Rome estimates that "this is a difficult effort, which, however, is today facilitated by the weakening of traditional stereotypes, with the economic collapse of Germany, the explosion of French debt and the recovery of the Greek economy." According to the analysis, the main element that favored Kyriakos Pierrakakis, "was the economic turnaround of Greece, which repaid its International Monetary Fund loans earlier than agreed and returns the money to the Europeans on time."

He also quotes the statement of the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras, that “because of Greece, Europe changed” and that “Greece was the midwife of History” and recalls that “the Greek debt is currently slightly higher than 150% of GDP, while within two years it is expected to be reduced to 138%, i.e. to the level of the Italian one”.

“The GDP deficit ratio is also improving because the economy, in recent years, has grown at a rate of 2% - higher than the European average - after a period of negative interest rates of 5%, thanks to a substantial recovery in domestic demand, increased investment and good use of the Recovery Plan. A radical reversal, compared to 2015, when the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, would have liked a Greece outside the euro”.

At the same time, the magazine writes that “unemployment, for which Greece was sadly known, has also collapsed”, because “while at the time of the great crisis more than a quarter of the active population was unemployed, now this percentage stands at 8%”, while it states that “perhaps the most important message that shows that much has changed is that Greeks are returning to their homeland”.

According to the publication of the Italian magazine, “Productivity is lower than the European average, while investments, although increasing, remain below the Union average”. “There is an impoverishment of certain categories of citizens, as well as cases of corruption, such as in the agricultural sector. The problems prompted Kyriakos Mitsotakis to adopt some measures, which reduced popular support to around 23% of voting intention and convinced Tsipras that a return to the political arena, as a unifying element of a weak and divided left, is possible," the magazine's analysis concludes.