Seven-year crisis matures Greeks politically

Since April Greece has been going through the eighth year of an economic crisis that forced most of its citizens to learn to "live with less" and brought havoc into the traditional political spectrum. It pushed mainstream parties to near extinction and gave the mandate to a previously little-known leftist group who now governs with a small rightist, nationalist party, having a slim majority in the parliament.

Already two and a half years in government, the Alexis Tsipras government has given the Greeks as many highs and lows that no other government did in recent history. Greeks voted for a youthful, vibrant leader who said he had an alternative plan to take them out of the suffocating austerity programs that three successive coalition governments imposed on them. Greeks, after putting all the blame on the old political elites who controlled the country since the return of democracy in 1974, rushed to support this new yet untested political voice from the left. They voted for the leftist Syriza twice and even allowed them to team up with the nationalists Anel. 

Two and half years later, Tsipras accepts "many mistakes," but thinks the worst is over. "When I came into this office, I had no experience, or sense, of how big the day-to-day difficulties would be. I think, now, I have a very different picture from the one I had initially," he conceded in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

Things look better. After a long painful negotiation, the country's creditors approved a few days ago the disbursement of 8.5 billion euros as emergency funds. The first attempt by Greece last week to return to the markets by selling a new five-year bond was successful as it managed to get a rate of 4.625 percent. 

The Greek government knows that...