A matter of timing?
We are witnessing something of a paradox these days. The prime minister may have only the slightest majority in Parliament yet he is daring to implement policies that he didn’t from a position of strength in 2004. Social security reform, the successful privatization of the country’s ports, reforms for workers at public enterprises, professional recognition of private college graduates and even some measures against tax evasion have all been bold moves. The prime minister appears ready to break more eggs to make his omelet, whether this be opening up closed-shop professions or mending the holes in the national railway company and Olympic Airlines, issues no government has dared to touch in decades. Last Sunday was the first time we saw Costas Karamanlis looking like he didn’t know what was going on outside the chambers of his office. Firstly, he appeared too apologetic of behavior that we all assumed he would condemn and, secondly, he sent no terse message to his ministers to get their acts together. What we saw was a wave of despair caused by two separate factors. The first has to do with an economic staff that has confused policy-making with an uncontrollable verbal stream of rubbish in the form of grandiose plans. The second factor has to do with the behavior of two or three officials that has provoked the people’s wrath. Politics is not a fair sport, because when the people are squeezed too much they will ask for blood, even if it comes from someone who is justified in the eyes of the law. No one expected the prime minister to announce a reshuffle simply because newspaper headlines suggested he do so, but the people, party cadres and even those who simply know that the reforms may yet be salvaged are expecting him to go ahead with a reshuffle because they see it as the only solution. Maybe Karamanlis is waiting for the dust to settle and for all of us to stop telling him what to do. Timing, after all, is everything.
