‘Great political leader, exceptional man’
Thinking back to the first time you met Constantine Karamanlis, what made the greatest impression on you? I met the prime minister for the first time in 1959. I had just gone into the Foreign Ministry and I was asked to go to the prime minister’s office to act as an interpreter at a meeting the premier was having with the then foreign minister of Great Britain. The premier spoke very good English, but he preferred to have an interpreter with him as it gave him more to time to reflect. The next time I met him was in the summer of 1974, I was then serving in our permanent delegation to NATO at Brussels, when they alerted me to return to Athens at once and take up duties as the prime minister’s diplomatic adviser. At both those meetings with the prime minister, what struck me at once was the respect, not to say awe, with which his colleagues treated him. And his colleagues were not just anybody. They were leading politicians, academics, scientists – and, as I realized later, even foreign politicians – who felt or at least showed their respect to him. I don’t know whether that was something he aimed at, but it was something that he radiated spontaneously, whether he himself realized it or not. You were one of his closest colleagues for the longest duration. Can you tell us about some specific moments that have remained in your memory and are unknown to us? I had the privilege of being with Karamanlis from 1974 till the end in 1998. And when I say privilege, I mean it wholeheartedly, because he was a rare personality. He was a great political leader and an exceptional man. Being close to such a person really was a unique experience and a rare privilege. It’s hard to single out special moments, but if you like I can tell you the one that springs to mind is the moment when we heard from Brussels that the negotiations for our entry to the European Economic Community had concluded successfully. It was one of the few times that Karamanlis was unable to hide his emotions. «At last,» he whispered, and wiped his eyes.
