‘The system’
It is commonly believed that in years gone by, a number of factors, chiefly related to politics, permitted the creation and maintenance in public life of a circle of power and behind-the-scenes power centers, a system that has proved to be extremely damaging and which has been described by the term «entangled interests.» It is a system the people are fully aware of, along with the extensive phenomena of corruption that accompanies it. Over the years, this system has been been condemned – its dissolution became the central issue for the previous opposition, the standard-bearer for political change, and a prevailing theme of the elections of March 7. PASOK was defeated because people had linked it to that very harmful «system.» The majority of voters reacted so strongly to this powerful circle of corruption that, even today, exercises a powerful influence on political life. This also explains the inability by PASOK to reconstruct itself, to find an audience, without questions being raised regarding the events of the past eight years. New Democracy, for many years a victim of the «system,» has paid for its resistance to it; the party was excluded from the media, subjected to slander and treated as a political pariah, whether as unable to govern or as being ignorant of events. When ND came to power, the sinful system, condemned in the minds of the people and in shock from what it saw as an undesirable turn of events, found itself in a quandary. It then sought to fight a behind-the-scenes battle, and is still doing so, doing its utmost to tenaciously hold its position, negotiating, exerting pressure wherever it can, and exploiting the situation created by the Olympic Games preparations. Its efforts in the sector of public works is typical. It is doing everything to exploit the so-called «mathematical formula» as a basis for assigning public works, a system that has proved to be so damaging to the country’s interests. It is doing the same thing in the media, where it wants to preserve its privileged positions of political power and influence for its own benefit, as happened in the recent past. The same applies to state supplies and the armaments programs. The question is whether the government will tolerate these developments, whether it will operate «realistically» and compromise with the injured «system,» or whether it will seize the opportunity to finish once and for all with everything that system symbolizes. The country, its economy and society have no margin for delay. The prime minister himself has promised on many occasions that he will not compromise. We are certain that he will do everything to reinforce his declarations.
