Simitis: Things better but not good enough
At the halfway mark of his government’s four-year mandate, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said yesterday that he was proud of the achievements of the ruling PASOK party over the past 20 years, but he stressed that he was not happy and that much still had to be done. In a nationally televised news conference on the occasion of the second anniversary of the April 9, 2000 elections today, Simitis stressed that the government’s priority was to improve the daily life of citizens. Having achieved Greece’s entry into the euro zone, Simitis said, the challenge now was to bring Greeks up to the living standards of other Europeans. «In the two coming years and beyond, a new historical cycle, a new era will begin, in which the target is not only to participate but to achieve true convergence – economic and social convergence. We want to reach the living standards and roughly the same income as other Europeans,» he said. Simitis noted problems in health and welfare services, corruption in the public sector and the prevalence of bureaucracy. «Things should not be as they are and no one says that they should be. But aren’t things better than they were in the past? For example, why do so fewer Greeks go abroad for medical treatment, as they did in the past?» he asked. Simitis, who usually refers to PASOK’s government from 1996, when he was elected prime minister, defended the party’s record since it came into power in 1981 under the late Andreas Papandreou (with a break in 1989 to 1993). «Other countries had taken the steps that we were taking 40, 50 or 60 years earlier. You can’t expect a government that came into power in 1981 to change everything. We are proud of what we have done,» he said. «We took over when Greece was in last place and we have narrowed the gap.» Simitis stressed that he will not resign if his party does badly in local elections this October. «Elections will be held at the end of the four-year mandate, in 2004,» he said. Simitis also defended his aides’ track record. «Look at who achieved this progress from 1996 onward. Are they not the same people who are in the government and the party?» He singled out Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis and Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys. «I have read innumerable times: ‘Simitis is on Calvary.’ I am here. I am here with PASOK,» he said.
