Karamanlis warns
Conservative party leader Costas Karamanlis’s explicit recommendations to his deputies on Monday, warning them that he will not tolerate any signs of arrogance and complacency may have been a surprise to the public but not to people in the know. It is an open secret that the favorable opinion polls and the negative climate inside the ruling Socialists have fanned the ambitions of several New Democracy officials – including some senior figures – who naively believe they can already start to share out seats and offices among themselves. Despite repeated recommendations by New Democracy’s leadership, such phenomena have grown in recent times. According to some of Karamanlis’s close aides, some top members of the cabinet group have been in the front line of such events, sidelining their colleagues who lack an equal opportunity to promote their image… Karamanlis’s message was clear and inclusive. Being a shadow minister is one thing, while being a minister is quite another, he said, adding that he will not allow attitudes of arrogance, narcissism and self-complacency, like those that have flourished inside PASOK, to surface in his own party as well. Karamanlis’s warning was also aimed at that category of entangled individuals who, in light of the approaching political changeover, are already trying to approach those who have their eye fixed on ministerial posts, establishing the necessary connections for the future.
