Papandreou on attack after internal dissent
Soon after high-ranking party officials raised questions about his leadership yesterday, PASOK leader George Papandreou said the New Democracy government was incapable and plagued by lies. At a morning meeting of the Socialist party’s political council, several of PASOK’s big hitters, led by former foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos, attacked the reforms Papandreou wants to introduce. The leaders were annoyed because Papandreou failed to attend the discussion. Papandreou is seeking to alter PASOK’s structure and introduce sub-committees dedicated to particular policy areas. But sources said Pangalos expressed concern that the Socialists were getting bogged down in technical details rather than facing the government directly. The criticism did not seem to deter Papandreou, who was elected leader in the runup to last March’s general election. Addressing the party’s national council later yesterday afternoon, he accused the conservative government of satisfying certain interests and not ruling with the people in mind. «The right has shown that it is incapable of changing and has shown how similar it is to the governments of the past,» he said.
