Transparent tactics
The prime minister cannot complain that the opposition party has interpreted his recently voiced pledges to reform the current method of governance as part of a pre-election campaign. When a country’s leadership decides during a pre-election period – at the eleventh hour, as it were – to start implementing measures to fight corruption, to debate the current electoral law and to design a «chart» for «real convergence,» how credible can this «policy» be? It is quite clear what our current «reformist» leadership is trying to achieve. But why should the voting public be influenced by the anxiety of a government faced with the prospect of defeat in the forthcoming elections? Why should the average citizen be concerned about Costas Simitis’s plans to move to a top European Union post (probably as president of the Commission)? After all, these plans have no bearing on the real problems faced by Greek citizens in their everyday life. Simitis may be virtually certain that he will be backed as a candidate for Romano Prodi’s job by EU bigwigs, but this has nothing to do with his obligations as Greece’s prime minister. Indeed, it is highly irregular that developments on the domestic political stage should be dependent on a direct link between the pre-electoral needs of the «reformist» PASOK and the possibility of our prime minister being transferred to a top job in the EU.
