It’s just a day, it’ll pass
It’s a good thing that the prime minister himself has asked for the pension reform bill to be reviewed, that he knows that despite Parliament’s broad support for the bill, the people had already spoken through numerous protests marches and public opinion polls, that he also knows that a «no» – no change to basic retirement ages, no increase in social security contributions and no reductions in main pensions, as promised in his pre-election campaign – can never become a «yes.» It is good that Minister of the Environment and Public Works Giorgos Souflias has decided to take Greece to the European Court himself on six cases being examined by the European Commission: the diversion of the Acheloos River, industrial waste dumping in the Asopos, the shipwreck of the Sea Diamond off the coast of Santorini, the degradation of Lake Koroneia, the widening of the Pyrgos-Tsakonas highway and the landfill at Fyli, which operates in defiance of EU regulations. It is good that Culture Minister Michalis Liapis participated in the «parallel,» rather than official, Olympic Flame relay to express his belief that there is nothing more sacred than freedom. It is good that Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis explained that she may have been exaggerating in her statement that Greece has stood up for itself for the first time over the Macedonia name dispute. It is good that Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos hired additional staff for the some 150 intensive-care beds that are basically out of operation, when it sometimes takes the intervention of television presenters to get patients an ICU bed. It is also good that today is April 1 and we can continue the old traditions.
