Greeks abroad have role in country's recovery

Leading personalities visited Greece last week for the Athens Democracy Forum. Many knew nothing about this country beyond what they'd read in the international press. Others are frequent visitors and love Greece and its people. They all asked the same question: "We don't understand why you are stuck in this black hole. You have a gorgeous country and a great way of living. Everywhere we went we came across young people with talent, education, language skills. What went wrong?"

We are all tormented by this question and the truth is that there is no easy answer. We were convinced - and, in turn, managed to convince many international analysts - that the reason for our ailments was the bailout and the austerity measures. A large portion of Greeks still believe that to be the case. So let's assume that the Germans decide to write off half of our debt and also hand us a few...