OPINION

Endless questions

The behavior, up until the end of last week, of State Minister Stefanos Manikas and PASOK Executive Bureau official Michalis Neonakis – who conducted stock market transactions to the tune of more than 22 million euros during the sinful bubble period from 1999-2000 – does not constitute a major political scandal, of as yet undetermined proportions, for the governing party. The majority of the ministers, deputies and members of PASOK have been speculative, resentful and squabbling over who is to blame for the matter getting blown into such huge proportions. They ask themselves whether the prime minister himself should appear in Parliament to address the matter, instead of Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis who they say has made «erroneous assessments and taken disastrous initiatives;» whether the report by the Capital Markets Commission should remain in the case file and not be officially recorded in parliamentary minutes; if Messrs Manikas and Neonakis should be obliged to stand in Parliament themselves and explain the inexplicable; and whether the two of them should have resigned earlier on or at all. No one in PASOK has addressed the crux of the matter, with the exception of former Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, former Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis and three or four others – who have also fallen from the prime minister’s favor and remain outside the government. Consequently their objections and accusations are subjective and unreliable.

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