Sir, – Richard Pine uses the Greek word filotimia, meaning a "combination of honour, dignity and self-esteem", to describe the Greek attitude to the EU ("Early election only option if exchequer bare", Greece Letter, April 7th). He also quotes the Greek finance minister as using the word "ambiguity" to describe his attitude in the current negotiations.
Richard Pine makes no mention of the words cynical and hypocritical, which are also Greek in origin. These latter words better describe the Greek attitude to the citizens and taxpayers of the rest of the EU.
There was an absence of filotimia when Greece's most powerful citizens were bankrupting Greece. There was no filotimia when they were telling the rest of the EU that everything was okay in the way the Greek government was funding its services. There is no ambiguity about the fact that the Greek government is threatening to pull the plug unless the taxpayers in the rest of the EU, including the taxpayers in the poorest countries, pay for their lack of filotimia. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.