BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Question: Many Greeks are not accepting this reform programme and taking to the streets. Trichet: It is never easy when a country has to put right many years of economic and financial mismanagement. Greece has lived beyond its means for years while continually raising public-sector pay.
That recipe worked for the U.S. and the U.K. in the 1980s, Sweden and Finland in the early 1990s, Asia in the late 1990s, Germany in the early 2000s, and in many other countries. That recipe stresses the need to improve competitiveness, and includes fixing social security, strengthening employment incentives, privatisation, and streamlining the public sector.