On the wrong side
Despite George Papandreou’s vacuous speeches about overhauling the structure of his weary Socialist party, little seems to have changed. Rather, the successor of Costas Simitis at the helm of PASOK’s leadership has put his confidence in representatives of the old PASOK, which he ostensibly denounced. That means that the opposition leader, the same politician who once vowed to change everything within his worn-out party, has eventually joined forces with those who are fiercely battling the government’s anti-corruption drive based on the state tender law. So Papandreou and the European Commission are, with one voice, asking Greece’s political class to ignore the nation’s constitution so as to comply with EU legislation protecting free competition. Can Papandreou be proud of this? The fact that this matter is about Greece’s campaign to curb the influence of so-called entangled interests is of little concern to Papandreou, it seems. Nor does he seem uncomfortable with the fact that his party, which he has repeatedly portrayed as a left-wing movement, is at odds with other parties of the Left and figures who have thrown their political weight behind the embattled government. From his little corner, the opposition leader is striving to galvanize the arguments of the Commission. His close aides do not tire of parading on political talk shows on private television, in a hapless effort to explain how it’s possible that they once voted for the constitutional provision but this time side with the Commission against the Greek Constitution. Deeply aware of the harm caused by political and business entanglement, the Greek public is hard to mislead. Although the former Socialist administration’s business cronies are happy to see Papandreou assault New Democracy’s state tender law.
