But these statements are half-truths, in that the middling cutbacks follow years of vast giveaways. Take, for example, pensions. Before the country’s first bailout, the retirement age was 60 for Greek women and 65 for Greek men. In certain “strenuous” professions — including, for example, hairdressing — Greeks could even retire at 55.

While that system was replaced with a retirement age of 67 for both men and women and the loopholes were substantially reduced, significant gaps were left untouched, particularly the ability of older workers to continue to retire on the same terms as before. Older workers have been retiring in droves, pushing up government spending and shrinking the labor force.

Similarly, Greece runs a Swiss-cheese-like tax system in which large sections of the economy (such as electricity, hotels and many of the country’s islands) fall under a lower rate of value-added tax. Under the agreement, there would be a higher, more streamlined tax rate with few exceptions.

The strict deadlines for implementation are remarkable, a manifestation of the lost trust between Greece and other eurozone members. The beleaguered nation was given just three days — until July 15 — to adopt legislatively some of the most important changes to the tax and pension systems.

This harsh treatment is warranted by Greece’s repeated failure to institute reforms, both those that should have been obviously desirable as well as those that it had agreed to institute as part of previous bailouts.

Ironically, by electing the Syriza party in January and then voting “no” on July 5 to a rescue offer from Europe, Greece did itself an enormous disservice, as it is now being forced to agree to more draconian changes.