President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias made note of the economic crisis and the country's exit from it, speaking in Messolonghi where he attended events marking the 185th anniversary of the heroic Exodus of Messolonghi.
"For true change to come about, our mentality must change...Not to demonise or victimise ourselves, but to realise that national is the true, as our great poet Dionyssis Solomos once said, even if it is an awkward truth," Papoulias said during an official luncheon.
"Many things do not depend on us, but on the decisions taken by the leaders of the European Union. Others, however, are exclusively our own obligation," the President continued, citing inter alia the modernisation of the state, the streamlining of the fiscal finances, the eradication of the black economy, consolidation of rules of transparency, equality before the law and the state, the restoration of confidence between the citizens and the state.
The exodus from the crisis entails changes, which a short while ago seemed incomprehensible, he said, adding that some of those changes are "painful or unfair", while others are "necessary and fair".
"Let's take into account whether we have offered the utmost of our abilities to our country, whether we are close to those free people who put their 'Sacred City', Messolonghi, the homeland of all of us, above their lives," Papoulias said, and stressed the importance of collectiveness, reiterating that "it is time for all of us to look at ourselves in the mirror...attribution of blame to the other side, criticising the neighbor's trash, is not enough, when our own house also reeks."
source: ANA-MPA
