Reforms go into action
Greeks can expect to see more reforms being implemented this year, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in his New Year’s Eve address after saying he was pleased with the structural changes that his government introduced in 2005. «The year 2006 will be a decisive one. It will be a year when changes and reforms will be stepped up,» said Karamanlis as he looked back on the 12 months during which his government undertook a number of economic and labor reforms. The ruling conservatives passed legislation to introduce more flexible work hours, reduce the cost of overtime, reform the bank pensions system, extend shopping hours and end jobs for life at public utilities. «The year 2005 will stand as a landmark year for major structural reforms. Bold changes everywhere, especially in the wider public sector, signal a new beginning for the country,» said the premier. Despite several general strikes in 2005, organized by private and public sector unions which opposed the reforms, Karamanlis spoke like a leader who was aware that recent opinion polls showed the majority of the public in favor of changes to the workings of public organizations in particular. «I am pleased because a broad social consensus has been formed supporting our reforms,» he said. The government is unlikely to keep up the pace of reforms this year but will concentrate on implementing the changes that were driven through Parliament in 2005. Karamanlis also put emphasis on a review of the constitution, which is to begin this year, but any changes will have to be approved by the Parliament that will sit after the next general elections. In his speech, PASOK leader George Papandreou highlighted the divisive nature of the reforms. «Unfortunately, the government is dividing instead of uniting Greeks,» he said. «Instead of being useful to the many, it is useful to the few. Instead of serving public interest, it is serving its own interests.» Papandreou would have been buoyed by a poll conducted by Kappa Research and published in the Vima newspaper on New Year’s Eve which put PASOK just 1.2 percent behind New Democracy. Eight in 10 of those polled said that the government’s top priority should be to reduce unemployment. This was a theme picked up by President Karolos Papoulias in his address. «European societies are troubled about the future of employment and social welfare,» he said.
