Lessons learnt from a crisis
All of us mature thanks to the large, or even small, crises that we experience. A handful of people though are called upon to tackle crises that concern human lives. Former premier Costas Simitis did this on the evening of the Imia crisis. Indeed the first thing close aides to Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis wished him when he took up residence in the Maximos Mansion was that he would «never live through such a night.» But one does not become PM without expecting to deal with crises. Karamanlis realized this for the first time when a Cypriot airliner flew off course over Greece in August 2005 and he was obliged to consider whether to shoot it down, as the rules dictate, despite the fact that it was carrying dozens of innocent people. The continuation of the plane’s course, ending in a huge crash that killed all the passengers aboard, relieved the premier of such a difficult decision. Many believe that Greece’s most recent tragedy, with the fires, has had a decisive impact on Karamanlis. Certainly he realized the truth of an old maxim: «Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is a motherless child.» When a top-ranking government official, known for his weak public image, was asked to visit the fire-ravaged prefecture of Ileia, he refused. He sent in his place a deputy, who managed just fine. The minister had argued that he did not want to tarnish his image by identifying himself with a catastrophe. When another top minister was asked to appear on television in order to back the government after the fires, he also refused, saying that he had already committed to several TV appearances. Eventually, after a lot of pressure, he did it. Karamanlis has realized how difficult it can be to trust people in key positions. It is one thing to give an order and be certain that it will be fulfilled and quite another to see people struggling to do their jobs and realize how wobbly your foundations are. It must be terrifying to realize that some of your top people are just not up to the job and are simply appearing on TV to garner votes, particularly when you think that you may be ushered out quietly while your former aides appear on TV and dream about replacing you. Karamanlis brought New Democracy to power more or less on his own and, with the help of his spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos, managed to turn things around for ND after the fires. Elections might be won by one or two people but the country is not governed that way. That is why the PM’s supporters are wondering whether he will finally start cracking down on cadres and removing the incompetent from their posts. Unless the elections really surprise us, we’ll have some answers around September 20.
