Revelations by Rallis on PASOK, EEC and NATO
At an event organized last week by the Constantine Karamanlis Institute on the subject Twenty Years Since Greece Entered the EEC, the guest speaker, former Prime Minister Giorgos Rallis, detonated a major political bomb. Instead of simply referring to the past – how, when and by whom action was taken toward EEC entry – and to the present and future of the European Union, he stopped at the crucial moment. In 1981, when PASOK came to power and was supposedly totally opposed to EEC entry, as expressed in its slogan EEC and NATO – the same syndicate, Andreas Papandreou was prime minister and Constantine Karamanlis was president of Greece. Twenty years on, Rallis says, Luckily for this country, its European itinerary was not changed in 1981, because the president at the time, Constantine Karamanlis, threatened the new premier that if he dared carry out his pre-election threat to take Greece out of the EEC, he would dissolve the Parliament, resign, and lead the election campaign against PASOK. European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine attended the discussion. Among the speakers was Greece’s European Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, who praised Karamanlis, who threw us into the sea, and the leaders who succeeded him, Papandreou and Costas Simitis, because they taught us to swim. Deputy Development Minister Alexandros Kalafatis yesterday signed the invitation for expression of interest for projects to be subsidized under the program Boosting Women’s Entrepreneurship in small and medium-size enterprises. Applicants must be aged between 18 and 55 and not have engaged in any business activity since Jan. 1, 2000. Subsidies will amount up to 50 percent of the proposed budget, which must not exceed 50 million drachmas in manufacturing and 30 million drachmas for other sectors, with a minimum of 10 million. Applications must be submitted through registered letter to EOMMEX until December 15, 2001. Further information may be obtained on the websites www.ypan.gr and www.eommex.gr.
