OPINION

Protesting too much

That was the point of Wednesday’s mass onslaught by opposition PASOK (involving Evangelos Venizelos and Vasso Papandreou, among others) against the new government’s comments about delays to Olympic preparations? What was the reasoning behind the former culture minister’s insistence that the ND government was «willfully trying… to discredit» the work carried out by the previous government? The Olympic works are going to be completed in some way or another. Would it not be more worthwhile to analyze the extent to which the cost of the works is to increase as compared to the initial, ambitious estimates? Former Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou complained that «the climate of panic cultivated by the new government and the way in which it is already operating» (as regards the completion of Olympic works) permits contractors to seek «additional contracts» which mean higher costs. Is she joking? Has she perhaps forgotten the countless such contracts that were signed when her party was in power? When reporters asked Venizelos about delays and the reduction in the scope of the works which occurred during his term in office, all the former culture minister could find to say was: «We are a small country and have faced difficulties» – difficulties which PASOK was evidently unable to tackle during its two terms in office and for which it is now blaming the new government which has not even made its policy speech.

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