A strong or a single-party government?
According to a myth, in turbulent and volatile times, a country needs governments that can make decisions quickly, without much fuss. In other words, it needs a majority government (thanks, of course, to the Greek electoral law) and not some “dysfunctional” coalition government.
Of course, one could point to the peoples of 22 of the European Union’s 27 member-states who have chosen coalitions to govern them. Maybe – someone else might argue – coalition governments are also a matter of political culture. But perhaps, I would respond, those peoples were not fortunate enough to have sensible leaders like ours, to enlighten them on the matter and explain what is good for them, and they insist on choosing coalition governments in turbulent times. What does our own experience show?
With the outgoing majority government of New Democracy, several things that were promised have been delayed: Fighting lawlessness and protecting the free movement of ideas in universities has not happened, while the infamous university police that was supposed to intervene when crimes were being committed inside campuses has been disbanded and its recruits have been distributed to various police stations.
Another government commitment was the timely delivery of justice. Four years later, delays are the norm, which are equivalent to the non-delivery of justice, at the expense of citizens, economic growth and democracy. The evaluation of civil servants was a third pledge, but it has been postponed indefinitely. The safety of citizens was a fourth commitment. Instead, we witnessed the emergence of the so-called Greek Mafia.
There are, of course, other things that did happen quickly and which would not have happened if a coalition government was in power: In a coalition government the prime minister would not have been able to change the law to appoint an unscrupulous person as the head of Greece’s intelligence agency (EYP) to intercept the conversations of the leader of the third largest party, PASOK, along with ministers, businessmen, journalists – and, in any case, there would be no cover-up of the scandal 10 months later. Furthermore, a reasonable assumption is that incidents of corruption would also have been more limited, since, due to mutual control, there would be some barriers to mischief and “non-institutional” practices.
Another government commitment was the timely delivery of justice. Four years later, delays are the norm, at the expense of citizens
At the heart of the matter, why do we need coalition governments? Because in order for the country to develop, it needs difficult changes and reforms, and these cannot be implemented by a minority government or one with a marginal parliamentary majority.
They can only be attempted by governments with broad popular support. The things that need to change have been repeatedly outlined, from the quickly forgotten economic plan recommended by Nobel Laureate Sir Christopher Pissarides and economist Nikos Vettas to the recent report by the Bank of Greece. Changing these problems will require major clashes with vested interests which only governments with broad support, a strong popular majority (coalition governments), a strong will for reforms and an elaborated plan can handle.
Whether such conditions can exist in the immediate future is a question, along with whether such a government could be formed. However, it is easier to predict the opposite outcome: Any government with a marginal parliamentary majority, which does not enjoy the trust of a large part of society, will not be able to solve these problems.
Without that trust, a single-party government will either not want to clash with vested interests or it will be defeated before it even decides to clash with them. Therefore, it is more likely that it will be content to do what almost all majority governments have done to this day: use the state as the spoils of war.
