Commentary
It is common knowledge that the 1988-1989 period was a politically turbulent one, as it was stigmatized by a major scandal at the center of which was former banker and publisher George Koskotas that also involved numerous PASOK officials. It is also common knowledge that New Democracy’s leadership at the time moved heaven and earth, using both legal and illegal means to seize power. People in the know will also recall the role played by Constantine Mitsotakis’s former senior aides, such as retired Gen. Nikos Gryllakis, and Christos Mavrikis, in his effort to politically and morally eliminate the late Socialist prime minister Andreas Papandreou. Much time has passed since then. That era’s anomalies were either revealed in the special court or, later, in Parliament and during the elections, and eventually the country returned on track. Thanks to many people’s efforts and sacrifices, the country managed to reach the current, safe but also competitive and challenging path of the eurozone. Yet during this crucial period during which Greece’s creative forces ought to be mobilizing themselves and focusing on the effort to adapt the country to the new environment, the country’s politics are seemingly dominated – at the initiative of the ruling PASOK party and, particularly, of party secretary Costas Laliotis – by an unprecedented and counterproductive debate about the past. In order to achieve its goal, the government has tried to resurrect the most backward picture of our society. Discredited agents and phone-tappers, people of the underworld, have come to supplement the TV trash, distort reality and breed a levantine image of a country which seems to be under a curse from the gods to never stand on its feet. The country runs the risk of falling prey to defamed figures, of losing its way, and of being caught up in a whirlpool of untimely and groundless clashes. The prime minister, who in recent years has tried to convey a different spirit and political style, ought to mobilize his people and put a stop to this unhealthy talk about the past. This country has enough serious problems to fuel political struggles and ideological confrontations already. It does not need people like Gryllakis and Mavrikis.
