Parties engage in verbal clash over unrest
The heightened tension on the streets of Athens was matched in the corridors of power yesterday when the government accused PASOK of using the recent unrest as an excuse to drag Greece’s name through the mud for its own gain. Reacting to several interviews given by PASOK leader George Papandreou to foreign media, government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros hit out at claims that New Democracy was solely responsible for the riots. The government spokesman added that Papandreou had overlooked his own responsibility for the current situation, as he has twice been education minister and that PASOK had been guilty of «mismanagement» during the last 20 years. «Mr Papandreou and his team are not interested at all in the country,» said Antonaros. «They are not interested in stability; they are not interested in domestic peace. They are blinded by the desire for power.» PASOK issued a statement saying ND had made Greece an international laughing stock. Meanwhile, both parties dismissed a suggestion by PASOK veteran Theodoros Pangalos that the ministers of economy, interior and justice should be replaced by politicians that are acceptable to all parties, as a way of calming the current unrest and paving the way for general elections.
