Opposition’s feeble assault
…Even supposing some citizens sat through most of the three-day debate in Parliament ending on Sunday, it is still unlikely that they would have felt enlightened after the experience. The arguments put forward by the government and the opposition were more or less those with which we are all already familiar. Indeed, it was no surprise that both sides followed the same tactic – a general assault upon the other side. Those who expected the clash to help clarify PASOK’s counterproposals to government-led reforms in a range of sectors – in other words, to hear Papandreou and his aides go beyond merely expressing what they object to and determine what it is they actually want and what they plan to do when they return to government – would have been disappointed. It is rather excessive to claim that the current government has made only disastrous moves during its short time in power, and it is not the best way for PASOK to develop an argument and offer effective opposition. It would have been wiser for party cadres to have conceded even one area in which the government has made some progress before comparing it to the numerous other areas which have been hampered by mistakes, shortfalls and delays. Then they should have clarified alternative policies that they would aim to implement…
