Changing mentality
For years, Greek political parties were hubs of exchange and bartering, responsible for giving government appointments to cronies, protecting the privileges of friendly unions, helping mediocre or even useless cadres scale the political ladder, and even insuring that the children of friends would get good grades at university.
Ruling SYRIZA is a propagator of all these traditions. Unfortunately, there is a good chunk of opposition New Democracy that shares the same mentality. Conservative unionists fought to keep their groups at the top of the food chain and many officials continue to see the state as the source of influence.
It is obvious that this section of the party is unhappy with its president’s liberal approach. For his part, the conservative chief will not get the mandate he’s seeking and govern the way he’d like to unless he changes this mentality within his party and brings in new people. And he needs to do this now; not after the elections.
