Governmental discord
Governmental discord has reached an unacceptable level. Indeed, it reveals a total lack of central coordination, which is directly attributable to Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and obliges him to display decisiveness beyond the level of rhetoric. To the great disappointment of traditional conservative voters, who had been anticipating a rejuvenation of public life for the past 20 years, the government is showing signs of disorganization which cannot just be attributed to an inadequate public relations strategy, nor to the stance of certain media organizations. It is no longer a boon to the government that opposition PASOK has still not recovered from its election defeat last year and that its leader, George Papandreou, is not particularly renowned for his political aggressiveness. A dynamic opposition would put pressure on Karamanlis and his Cabinet to act in a more coordinated fashion, with greater deliberation and, hence, more effectively. At the moment, those few initiatives that are undertaken end up falling apart in the chaotic communication between ministers and party members. The one thing that continues to work in favor of Karamanlis and his government is the public’s abhorrence at the deeds of Costas’s Simitis’s PASOK governments, and the memory of the arrogant behavior and outrageous corruption that brought Greece to the edge of moral and economic collapse. But this aversion will not last forever.
