Influencing public opinion
Three days of snowfall provoked a huge commotion last week, largely due to the media – chiefly electronic – which impelled members of the government to travel out to the suburbs to put on very public displays of sensitivity and of braving the elements in solidarity with the average citizen. As ever, moderation and cool-headedness were in short supply. Greece is scarcely prepared to tackle even seasonal weather, let alone extreme conditions, given its temperate climate. This also fosters a widespread laxity in preparedness levels. Of course, no reasonable citizen would suggest that Greece should take the same preventive measures as Sweden or Norway, for example, in order to protect itself against a few days of heavy snow. All citizens want a more efficient and organized state machine, but this is an enduring demand. At least the current government is not pretending to be leading a «strong Greece» that serves as an example for Europe, as was the case with Costas Simitis’s PASOK predecessors. For weeks now, political commentaries in the media have been devoted to coverage of the imminent government reshuffle. Indeed at some point, whether he wants to or not, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will have to restructure his government. Even so, this reshuffle – whatever it involves – will not bring about a substantive change in government policy in any area. While any reshuffle is newsworthy, the impending one nonetheless commands little more than curiosity. The government’s economic policy will remain unaltered even though some cadres – motivated either by self-interest or by their personal assessment of the performance of certain colleagues The responsibility for this lies exclusively with the prime minister, who has his own system of job assessment which does not coincide with public sentiment. If this were not the case – that is, if Karamanlis did not act on his own judgment – then the first person who should be replaced would be Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis, who ranks as the least popular Cabinet member in recent polls. But Alogoskoufis is to stay put. At the opposite end, if public sentiment were factored into the premier’s decision making, then Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis would stay in his post; for he ranks as the most popular Cabinet member because of his sharp political acumen, which counterbalances the lack of funds allotted to his ministry. Kaklamanis’s case demonstrates the advantage of the politician over the technocrat (who repels voters in his attempts to be a pragmatist). Nevertheless, Kaklamanis will almost certainly become New Democracy’s candidate for mayor of Athens. Then there is the Foreign Ministry, whose current head, Petros Molyviatis, is expected to be replaced by outgoing Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis. Despite the fact that Karamanlis has extremely good relations with the current minister and is entirely satisfied with Greece’s progress in international relations, Molyviatis does not really harbor any further political ambitions. The argument put forward by some – that Bakoyannis as foreign minister would pressure Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos to change Nicosia’s stance on the Cyprus problem – is naive. Papadopoulos refused to give in even to pressure from US President George W. Bush and European leaders to sign the Annan plan; he will hardly yield to a Greek minister, especially now that Cyprus is an EU member and that the plan, in its current form, is incompatible with existing European principles. Though some believe that the new faces in the Cabinet will generate a new dynamic, the impending reshuffle is unlikely to materially affect government policy. That is, unless the media, which often drives political life, continues to disrupt the policymaking process.
