Entitled “Greece’s great comeback”, the Wall Street Journal analyzes in an opinion article of its editorial team how “the former weak link of Europe”, as it characteristically writes, “is turning into a model of fiscal policy, with free market reforms” .

“Nearly a decade ago, Greece looked like it would never recover from its economic and political trauma. On Friday, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s gave Greek bonds an investment grade,” the article notes, referring to a target of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which was crowned with success. The Wall Street Journal writes, however, that this development, i.e. the recovery of investment grade, “underestimates the scale of the transformation that Mr. Mitsotakis has brought to Athens.”

According to the newspaper, what differentiates Kyriakos Mitsotakis from his predecessor is that he focused on economic development. “Mr Mitsotakis, since ousting Mr Tsipras and returning the centre-right New Democracy party to power in 2019, has cut the corporate tax rate to 22% from 29%, worked to streamline government operations and is now promoting privatisations”, the article states.

While for Alexis Tsipras, he notes: “Mr. Tsipras nearly blew up the eurozone by refusing to honor the terms of the bailout and going so far as to organize a failed referendum on the country’s remaining in the euro. before walking away from the edge of the cliff. It then signed a bailout deal with its own strict fiscal conditions.”

As the Wall Street Journal notes, at the moment there is optimism in the country that “explains why the economy is expected to grow by around 2.5% this year, S&P expects public debt to fall to 146% of GDP from 189% in 2020, and investment is picking up. All this happened despite the pandemic, the migration crisis and several natural disasters. It also explains why Mr Mitsotakis won re-election comfortably this summer.”

The opinion article states, finally, that although the Greek economy still faces challenges, “Mr Mitsotakis has understood that an economic growth agenda is the key ingredient to securing support for these reforms – and for fiscal balance”and concludes that “this is a lesson the rest of Europe—and America—could learn from the continent’s former weak link.”