Reform, rebuilding and Tempe

The public's anger and outrage caused by the horrific train collision in northern Greece and the subsequent revelations about its causes are the dominant story shaping the election campaigning. The deadly accident is a defining moment that has turned a more or less predictable confrontation between the parties - with the more or less usual dilemmas, with lots of noise and polarization - into an almost monothematic debate, revealing a pressing need to change the way the state operates.

Pressing, because this debate is no longer just about the level of service provided to citizens, but, as it turned out in the most tragic way, their very lives and the lives of their children. Parties will undoubtedly be asked to provide answers. But what they primarily need to convince people about is not how they will change the structural problems of the state, but that they really want to...