Talk of snap polls halts reforms
The enthusiastic applause coming from the wing that held the conservative deputies in Parliament last week said it all. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had just wrapped up his riposte to the Socialist opposition leader, George Papandreou, who had earlier challenged his government to call for early elections as soon as possible. «Be careful what you wish for,» the premier said, «because it may come true.» The reaction of New Democracy deputies and ministers indicated that they would indeed like to see an early election. The only reason is their certainty, fueled by several opinion polls, that New Democracy would have no problem winning again at the polls. How long would a new term last? The answer would obviously depend on the whims of the public opinion. Setting an election date according to a party’s political interest is not exclusive to Greece. A snap poll gave British Prime Minister Tony Blair a third consecutive term over his conservative rivals. Any similarities stop here as the Greek Constitution clearly states that premature elections are only justified when «an issue of national interest is at stake.» Again, the problem is that in Greece, the president of the Republic has little say on that because of a political system that gives too much power to the prime minister. Now that the parliamentary debate on the budget has come to an end, there is a widespread feeling that Greece has entered a long pre-election period with no clear end in sight. Some say elections will be held in spring, others predict sometime in autumn. Conservative ministers seem to care more about winning another term than carrying out their pressing duties. During the parliamentary debate, New Democracy often looked like an administration that has successfully completed the bulk of the hard work and is now busying itself with the final details. It is a dangerous logic. It’s not just that New Democracy is taking comfort in PASOK’s weakness. Most importantly, it’s the paralyzing effect that a long pre-election period would have on the country. No amount of reassurances about the government’s intention to exhaust its four-year term appears strong enough to motivate the sluggish state apparatus and the lethargic ministers. The big structural problems of the economy and public administration remain unsolved. Renewing the public mandate is not enough to solve them.
