‘No presidency was ever harmed by the experience’
The government anticipates that its presidency will boost its prestige within the country, where it has repeatedly been noted that everyday problems are inadequately dealt with. Do you think the presidency can be combined with directly pushing through issues that concern the national domestic arena? Everyday problems, yes, they exist, and they are many. And for every one that is solved, a new one will be generated. But all these years, there has been substantial progress in dealing with them. As it is useful to see how far we are from where we want to get to, so it is useful to see where we have got to in relation to the past. And as a society, we did what we could. It is an incontrovertible fact that everyone likes to have grandiose aims, but at crunch point, when the time comes for action and sacrifice in order to attain them, most people turn tail and flee. The presidency does not come into conflict with advancing internal affairs. The bulk of the presidency’s affairs will concern the prime minister, the Foreign Ministry and two or three more ministries. There is no reason for it to have repercussions on domestic matters. In the end, how important is it to the average Greek that Greece will hold the EU presidency for the next six months, and what will be the benefits of this particular development? It’s no small thing for the average Greek citizen to see their prime minister and government handling major EU issues at the helm of the Union; paying attention to how to forward matters through which benefits will accrue to the country. Credibility, prestige, influence, experience and cooperative relations earned by the country through the presidency will allow it to obtain multiple benefits, not only during the six months but afterward. No presidency was ever harmed by the experience.
