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Greece needs a government of capable people without George Papandreou in its composition

05 November 2011 / 01:11:06  GRReporter
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What do you think will be the fate of the entire political system in Greece after the crisis?

It will end up badly hurt, but it seems that, at least for the moment, the parties do not understand this. PASOK somewhat understands how things are progressing. But New Democracy thinks that everything is like before. But it is not.

Isn't a change in the political system necessary?

"Must" in a democratic country is just a word. Ultimately, everything depends on the desire of the Greek people. The same people have chosen those who have caused the chaos. The people in power today did not come from Mars. They entered parliament because the Greek people elected them and the people, according to recent polls, are willing to vote for Mr. Samaras. In my opinion, he would not bring different results from those of George Papandreou’s government. People, however, are free to decide, it is their right.

Do you think that the end of political dynasties in Greece is coming?

You see, all are talking about it, but the reality is not indicating that their end is nigh. To the contrary, I would say that they are becoming more powerful in the ruling party and the opposition. I mean that participants in politics tend to follow family tradition. And I do not mean only the leading families of Papandreou, Karamanlis and Bakogiannis. Many deputies enter politics following the path of their fathers and sometimes grandfathers. In this parliament, many of the deputies come from such families. At the same time, at least in Greece, politics attracts a very small number of  "outside" persons.

What do you think are the similarities and differences in the end of the political careers of the son George Papandreou, the nephew Costas Karamanlis and the daughter Dora Bakogiannis?

Ms. Bakogiannis was not Prime Minister, so I will exclude her. The most typical of the other two is their "separation" from reality. Very often, people feel that Mr. Papandreou lives in his reality. Something similar was true for Costas Karamanlis. We are talking about a reality that they are creating around themselves within the relevant offices and with their close associates incomprehensible to us all. It has nothing to do with the reality in which everyone else lives. This inevitably leads to serious problems. Even what Mr. Papandreou had told PASOK members about the referendum was completely incomprehensible. The only one who would understand him is a person living in the same fictional reality. I think something similar happened to Mr. Karamanlis. There was a sense of distance and disdain for reality.

How would you comment on the fact that the Minister of Defense changed the chiefs of all military staffs a few days ago? A journalist from the French newspaper Libération posted on Twitter that George Papandreou has justified to Nicolas Sarkozy the initiative of holding a referendum due to fears of a military coup.

This change has caused great concern. British radio stations have called to ask me what was going on. I do not think anything has happened. The reason to hold these changes at this moment lies in the unconsciousness of these people and their existence in their own reality. The other thing, which caused the greatest concern, was the fact that the chiefs were all changed at the same time. Although each of them might be very good, the fact that they are all new makes the group weaker. If they were changed one by one to integrate each of them gradually into the group, things would develop in a more ordinary way. This is a common practice. The abrupt change proves that they live in their own world and they do not seem to understand what they are doing. Yesterday, Mr. Papandreou told his deputies that he had triggered the whole discussion about the referendum to press Antonis Samaras to agree with the loan agreement. As a result, he "blew" all stock exchanges and caused problems throughout the world. Hundreds of millions of euros were lost just because Mr. Papandreou had decided to say this. All these actions indicate that these people are not anchored to the ground.

When it all ends, what would the political future of George Papandreou be?

This is something I am not interested in. The only thing that matters is that he be replaced as Prime Minister. Then, let him do whatever he wants. But in no case should he remain in this post.

How do you see the future of smaller parties such as yours?

Previous experience shows that smaller parties have no perspective. This does not mean that we do not make efforts. But the truth is that the Greek people, at least for now, prefer to vote for one of the two parties, which are expected to govern. For the Greek mentality, it is alien to have coalition parties or governments. They might say they want them, but in the end they vote to have a parliamentary majority. They did the same with Papandreou and now we are paying the price for it. For if from the very first day the Greeks had not given majority to George Papandreou, as I suggested in my dozens of press releases, and he had been forced to cooperate with others, things would be quite different. First of all, he would not have the opportunity of swearing at, from morning to evening, the party with which he was cooperating and he would be forced to agree to a consensus. But this has not happened, because the Greek people wished so.

Tags: PoliticsStefanos ManosGovernmentGeorge PapandreouGreecePublic debtReformsPublic sectorPublic property
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