As important as negotiations on an issue of national import may be – such as the FYROM naming issue that has troubled us for 25 years -there is no justification for the paralysis on other major issues that concern the country and its citizens.

The government appears to have become absorbed by the internal dispute with its ruling coalition junior partner, and in the effort to reap communications benefits from its clash with the opposition.

Parliament is not working at full capacity, ministers appear either disinterested or simply don’t have draft laws to table, and MPs are preoccupied with whether they will participate in Sunday’s demonstration in Athens on the FYROM naming issue.

The outstanding issues that must be addressed in order to close the third bailout evaluation and receive the next loan tranche are ignored. Even crucial issues set by the creditors, such as speeding up property auctions, are moving at a snail’s pace.

The government and the political system appear trapped in a futile, endless polarising clash, which de facto undermines the negotiations with our neighbouring country, but also hinders the creation of a political and economic plan for the next day.

While the government misses no opportunity to proclaim that it wants a clean exit from the memorandum, after the end of the current fiscal adjustment programme, no one has taken the trouble to study what that means, and what the repercussions will be.

Once again we are allowing time to fly by, without a plan or prospects, waiting for others to determine the course of the country and its economy. Responsibility for this rests mainly with the government, in which ministers concern themselves with any issue except those which they have been appointed to address.

Unfortunately, the country’s problems are not exhausted with the settlement of the FYROM issue.

The citizenry and the economy more generally face many problems, and they will not end with the communications operation regarding a clean exit from memorandums.

Without a plan, without a programme, and with enormous political tensions, the danger of the country remaining in a state of problematic stagnation confronts us.