People fleeing areas the Israeli army has warned against in Beirut, Lebanon, on 9 April 2026. [Wael Hamzeh/EPA]
Easter, the celebration of Spring and the Resurrection, makes us think of the road we are traveling, our hopes (fulfilled or lost), our people, whether present, or in our hearts and minds. This year, what stands out is how quickly insecurity dominates.
The last great fuel crisis was 45 years ago, and here we are today, waiting for the unknown fallout of the war in Iran and Lebanon. No one knows whether the ceasefire will hold, nor what the consequences will be for us. Greece joined NATO 74 years ago, and has been a member of the European Union for 45 years. These two organizations established that the country was part of the West, providing greater security, stability and prosperity than that enjoyed by all previous generations of Greeks, from the most recent Civil War to the years under the Ottoman yoke, a time that we always remember at Easter. Since last Easter, these certainties have been shaken. Our world has changed. We are called on to survive and, in some way, secure the future.
Until a few years ago (until Donald Trump’s first presidential term, that is), no one expected the United States to abdicate their leading role in the global system of governance, let alone that they would actively try to subvert it. This decision by the US president strengthens China, which sees America dissolving friendships and institutions that had benefited it for decades. And it benefits Russia, which hopes for victory against Ukraine thanks mainly to Trump’s support for Vladimir Putin.
In our neighborhood, NATO’s uncertain future means that Greece will need new alliances to deal with the belligerence of a Turkey freed of alliance obligations. But Israel, with whom Greece signed a strategic partnership agreement in recent years, is in a furious series of conflicts, sparking further uncertainty in the region. This alliance could be strong, but it is unpredictable. Even though NATO, the EU and the United Nations still exist, along with customary ties between nations, it is not difficult to imagine what was, until recently, inconceivable – a world in which the only given is that everyone is trying to get the edge over everyone else. (It is astonishing how the predatory nature of one person can “color” behavior on a global level, and how easily grand, historic institutions collapse when they are not given enough support).
Today nothing is inconceivable. In our microcosm, Greece, we need to understand who we are, where we are, where we want to go and how to get there. Because few ask these questions, and even fewer propose solutions, we are satisfied by criticizing each other. Most of us know what we don’t like in the government, but few make a serious evaluation of what it has achieved, where it gave up, and what it could do better. We are right to point out omissions, mistakes and possible corruption, but we need to propose effective solutions, rather than to claim, “We would do better.”
In this climate, the government’s dilemma – “Stability with us or chaos” – comes across as hiding an ulterior motive, an easy deflection of criticism. Likewise, the oppositions’ attacks look just as “easy,” all noise without meaning. For us to be in a better position next year, one side or the other needs to do much better. Ideally, both would make the effort.