Alexis Papachelas

Athens' frustration over the recent incident with the Ukraine-built sea drone found in the Ionian Sea is perfectly justified. It is outrageous that a country that has been supported by Greece, and at significant cost, should not respect its sovereignty, and acts irresponsibly and dangerously.

As has often been the case before, the country finds itself in a preelection period, despite it not having been officially proclaimed as such. How and when it happened cannot be determined with any certainty. Some attribute it to leaks from the prime minister's office and several ministers. Others believe it to be an initiative by the prime minister himself to put a stop to complaints within his party, to frighten its MPs, ministers and other players, and to prevent any nasty surprises. Another scenario making the rounds is that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is, in fact, thinking about calling snap elections for late September, but will ultimately see out his four-year term because his character will prevent him from doing otherwise.

Watching the excellent documentary by Eleni Varvitsioti and Viktoria Dendrinou on the Greek debt crisis, “To the Millimeter,” there is one character who stayed with me because they may have played a central role in keeping Greece on its feet in 2015, yet 99.9% of Greeks were unaware of their existence. Stavroula Miliakou was a civil servant, the general director for the budget, who was responsible for the State General Accounting Office in the period between 2014 and 2018. I listened to her describe her experience as the country flirted with the abyss. She did not speak like a politician. She was straightforward and brutally honest – and she was compelling. This was not some technocrat with an MBA from a top-flight university and background in a consultancy firm speaking in terms that are incomprehensible to most people. This was a public servant with in-depth knowledge of her field, safeguarding the public interest – and she and others like her are the backbone of the Greek state. We made the mistake in the past of lumping all public servants together with the stereotypical laggard, so it is our duty now to hold up people like Ms Miliakou as the role models that they should be.

Greek-Turkish relations have entered a phase marked by tension. Ankara seems greatly annoyed by Greece's close strategic partnership with Israel, as well as by President Emmanuel Macron's response to the question of what France would do in the event of a crisis in the Aegean. Athens, for its part, believes the Turkish government violated a fundamental rule underpinning the agreement for “calm waters”: not springing any surprises or unilateral actions on the other side.

Athens is waiting to see what Turkey will do with the proposed legislation on maritime zones it is reportedly drafting, while it also thinks a further ramping up of tension in the Aegean this summer is likely. The Turkish side is making all sorts of excuses for its current escalation, both in words and deeds. It claims, for example, that it had to respond to Greek moves like the deployment of a Patriot missile battery on the island of Karpathos.

It is genuinely alarming how populism can so easily unmake even politically mature countries. A classic example is the United Kingdom – a nation with deep history, strong institutions, tradition, and (supposedly) robust mechanisms for producing capable leaders.

Think about how dangerous it would be to go through a crisis with Turkey in the age of social media. How easily public opinion would “ignite” if some were given the opportunity to light the fuse. It happened in the 19th century through newspaper headlines, and in the 20th century during the Imia crisis, through private television stations.

A big problem in Greece is how much of it is in a “gray area.” Do I build on this plot or not? Is what I am going to do legal or not? These questions should normally have simple answers that are given at the touch of a button or even by an artificial intelligence platform.

Sometimes it's the little things that really tick you off. Every day I see the exact same issue on the streets and sidewalks of Athens' city center and suburbs: dangerous holes dug into the middle of streets and sidewalks, with no proper signage warning motorists and pedestrians. Most of these holes are the work of subcontractors working for utility companies to lay down new cables, fiber optic systems or pipes. The shoddy craftsmanship everywhere – the barbarity, in fact – and the gross negligence for the public's safety is absolutely infuriating. You see projects lying abandoned by work crews and others progressing in the middle of the rush hour. No one is checking if these work crews are up to scratch on safety, and citizens don't even know who they can complain to. It is also apparent that the companies taking on these projects are hiring from the very bottom of the pile in order to cut costs.

We all live in a bubble. We hang out with people who, in general, have the same opinions and habits as us. We are often astonished when we realize that “our world” is not the same as the world out there.