New policy needed
The defeat of French socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the first round of presidential elections and the success of far rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen should be a cause for concern and for a re-examination of certain established political ideas – which have been labeled as reformist – that tend to undermine social cohesion. Instead, the government has tried to breathe new life into the concept of the dividing lines between the country’s socialist and conservative groups. But as much as Simitis may try to distance himself from his political opponents, it is impossible to draw these dividing lines at the practical level. Market deregulation in the energy, transport, and telecommunications sectors and the reform of the social security system, for example, cannot be carried out without the introduction of unpopular measures, whatever PASOK’s spin doctors say. They are all part of an inexorable process which is bound to create insecurity among the labor force, regardless of whether it is implemented by a left-wing or a right-wing government. The problem that the first round of France’s presidential elections underscored is the mistrust of the effectiveness of the European vision. This has, via a union of nation states aimed at preserving the basic elements of their makeup vis-a-vis the United States of America and the former Soviet Union, gradually been transformed into a multinational consortium where politicians play the role of public relations executives who have to persuade citizens of the superiority of the goods on offer. The EU is, no doubt, an extremely interesting economic and political venture and, if its present shape prompts public reactions, this is due to the fact that over the recent years, Europe has abandoned attempts to shape its own particular vision and uncritically moved closer to the US model. The EU began to crumble when its administration was taken over by a European left which sidelined genuine politics for the sake of a distorted managerial mentality. Costas Simitis became a member of this elite as an academic who takes part in some seminar, transferring its statements to the Greek audience once he returned to Athens. As regards the economy, Simitis often met a wall of reactions set up by the old PASOK. He displayed indecisiveness and concentrated his attacks on ideological targets. Last Monday he attacked the naivete of Graeco-Christian civilization, saying it had been used by the instigators of the 1967 military coup. The crimes of the colonels are undeniable. What Simitis should be worried about is why some people share a positive view of the military dictatorship. As a professor, Simitis may be charmed by long-term planning. But citizens have a certain life-span within which they wish to see an improvement of their living standards and certainty about the future of their children. The political elite has to guarantee these fundamental parameters, or we will be faced with the birth of nasty political phenomena.
