‘Four terms in government are enough for me’
Nikitas Kaklamanis has even considered blowing up three or four blocks in downtown Athens in order to introduce a little greenery to the city. He claims he will be the first mayor of Athens not to count the political cost of his actions. «If my fellow citizens want me to, I’ll stay in Kotzia Square [at City Hall] for eight years.» he said, affirming his commitment not to return to parliamentary politics «because four terms in government are enough for me.» In a far-ranging interview with Kathimerini, the former health minister questioned the first steps take by his successor Dimitris Avramopoulos, responding sharply to the latter’s claims that he had found some hospitals in «Third World» condition, which prompted him to ask for the resignations of their directors. Interestingly, Kaklamanis did not deny that the government of which he was a member until recently has «a problem, not just of communication but of substance.» «I would like us to be more daring,» he said calling on some of his colleagues not to underestimate PASOK leader George Papandreou and to listen to the warning bell from the public, «because some of us have got swollen heads.» And he dubbed Federation of Greek Industries President Odysseas Kyriakopoulos a «dynamiter» of social cohesion.
