Stournaras also met with the leaders of the main opposition parties.

According to Kathimerini sources, Stournaras set out three chief risks that Greece must avoid. The largest risk is of a bank run not only on the Greek branches of Cypriot banks, but also on all Greek banking institutions. Averting such a crisis is crucial to safeguard the recapitalization of Greek banks.

The second risky scenario involves the likely blow to the Greek private sector by the haircut on the capital of Greek businesses operating in Cyprus.

The third risk – that of a worsening climate in the Eurozone – is beyond Greece’s control but would have a negative impact on plans to privatize state assets and draw foreign investment and also on the geopolitical level if Turkey decides to exploit the temporary weakness of Greece and Cyprus.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras insisted yesterday that there were no plans to bail in depositors in other countries, as was the case in Cyprus. “The Eurozone is not insecure,” Stournaras said in response to a journalist’s question. “In fact, it was stated clearly at the Eurogroup that the solution chosen applies to Cyprus and not any other country,” Stournaras said, according to the media.

Cyprus is finalising capital control measures to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders, accoridng to Al Jazeera.

Banks are due to reopen on Thursday. European leaders said the deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro.

Apparently though, as George Orwell had once stated, the fact that statistical figures might be looking good (or improving, at least) does not guarantee happy citizens. On the contrary, Greeks are destitute.

To be quite honest, I am surprised by the fact that our society is still in one piece. I fear the day though, when it finally cracks. I sincerely doubt the current calm before the storm will be prolonged.

I have been using public transport for the last month and as always have kept my eyes and ears open. One tends to pick up the national mood when in a bus or the tube. Everyone is moody, bad-tempered and hopeless. Frustration is all over the place. The only topic on the agenda is ‘we’re finished’.

Historically, revolution takes place when people lose all hope. We’ve reached this point. No politician can offer the people hope anymore and besides that, the latest images from last week’s parliamentary debate and voting on whether a number of politicians should face justice on a number of wrongdoings have confirmed the fear that we are governed by irresponsible and corrupt political parties.

I say we look to other social powers to face the crisis. I believe that it is definitely a time for social revolution. It is a time for changing guard and starting all over again. A time for people from all walks of life to re-establish a democracy that cares for every citizen, a just society that provides for everyone and in which public goods and services are accessible to all.

As Einstein once remarked, doing the same thing every day and expecting a different result is a clear indication of schizophrenia! And unfortunately, that’s what Greek society has been doing the last few years.

As a nation we have many rivers to cross, but as our history shows, we always get there.

It is argued that when elites are divided, journalism thrives. Well, only if the latter is not part of the problem. As in many other countries around the world, deep pockets in Greece have always nurtured their private lists of MPs and journalists and businesspeople were used to exchange their support with government contracts, once ‘their guys’ are appointed in public office. A simple proof is the fact that no one could ever explain the origins of expenses of individual candidates during pre election periods.

These days, things are quite different. Payrolls have dried out, politicians appear tired and ineffective on the racing track, whilst entrepreneurs are cornered by civil servants, who have already seen their incomes shattered and what’s more, are closely followed by troika executives with a ‘license to kill’.

So, what has been common practice for decades, now leads to handcuffs and public ridicule. What has always been a means of showing oneself around is now evidence of socially not accepted behaviour. Old money, if survived, is laying low and new riches are already slammed by their overstatements (and overspending).

When state money ran out, elites started panicking. They knew the system too well to expect any hope for improvement, especially when current gen of politicians remained in charge. However, astonishing things happened in the last two years, during which a late maturity occurred in the lives of Greeks, albeit in a dramatic way. Firstly, citizens were deprived by most of the ‘fat’ accumulated during the ‘golden deficit years’, secondly, after a decade of inactivity and failure, politicians made way to a technocrat who came in to make things right. Thirdly, international profiteers pardoned a large part of the Greek public debt, bankruptcy was avoided and the CDS proved peanuts -in local terms- despite the painstaking efforts of allegedly gifted economists who kept betting on disaster. Fourthly, EU officials started talking about growth and jobs, while reforms were signed and voted by a smoked Parliament. These structural developments create a series of conditions for a clean start.

However, politicians and the ‘old system’ remain puzzled. The first have proved unworthy and the latter, who had already cashed out much of their wealth in foreign banks, lost the ‘drachmisation’ opportunity and the chance to bring in hard currency to reposition themselves in the country.

Negativity that is still around troubling citizens, who attempt to think ahead, has to do with a general disbelief towards a political and economic system that appears crippled in the post PSI era. The old state-fed and boneless corporatism is unable to lead the country into a new equilibrium, defined by 21st century. New money is urgently needed; the honest, ambitious and efficient type…

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com