GREECE: Look-back Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
The more things change, the more they stay the same
2009 was the last year of the Constantine Karamanlis administration that was already under fire from Brussels for submitting “massaged” national statistics—in a preamble to the sovereign debt crisis that sent the Greek economy into a tailspin and eventual bankruptcy.
But, Karamanlis was equally in trouble in domestic politics as well with a litany of social upheavals and growing voter dissatisfaction.
The wildfires of 2007 caused a political storm that added to criticism of the administration over the cost of living, constant strikes, and repeated “mis-steps” of members of Karamanlis’s cabinet that tarnished his reputation as the PM determined to “clean” Greek politics, according to his own declarations. The 2008 riots over the shooting of a 15-year old demonstrator by the police simply added to the government’s problems.
Beset by back-to-back crises, Karamanlis declared early elections that were held in October 2009 and resulted in the defeat of New Democracy and the ascension to power of George Papandreou, son of the late Andreas Papandreou.
The brief below outline Karamanlis’s troubles at the beginning of the year that was his last in power.
Government and farmers continued shouting past each other while the economy reeled from the from the "crippling blow" of the complete collapse of domestic surface transportation thanks to 54 separate blockades thrown across motorways and roads all over the country by the tractor brigades.
Farmer organizers in Corinth, speaking early this morning on live radio, warned the country that "the worse has yet to come" as their tractors blocked the bridge over the Corinth canal thus isolating the Peloponnese from the rest of the country. Other "hot blooded" such "heroes of the agrarian revolt," according to KKE1, threatened to bring hundreds of tractors into downtown Athens to block parliament!
The economic impact of the paralysis brought about by the farmers is "catastrophic," desperate representatives of business federations, hoteliers, haulage companies, and merchant associations said. Many provinces are beginning to suffer shortages of basic goods, while hospitality business owners in central and northern Greece, depended on winter tourism, reporting a drop in business as much as 80 percent in comparison to the same period of 2008.
Customs at the Greek-Bulgarian and Greek-Turkish borders remain shut -- and lines of trucks stretch for kilometers inside Bulgaria and Turkey. Yesterday, the Bulgarian government officially asked for EU intervention to address the impact of the failure of the GoG to keep Greece's roads open and ensure the unobstructed conduct of trade.
Agriculture ministry officials insisted that the government has nothing more to say and nothing more to give, Eleftheros Typos2 reported. Karamanlis, speaking yesterday at a boisterous gathering of the ND women's league, called upon the farmers to open the roads and take what the government has to offer out of an "extremely tight" budget. As the PM spoke, farmer organizers from various parts of the country rejected the €500 million support package as "too little" and taunted the government in front of the ever-present, eager cameras.
Otherwise, Dora Bakoyiannis3 attended a session of the EU General Affairs council which, among other issues, tentatively addressed the possibility of EU member states agreeing to keep some of the Guantanamo prisoners in European detention facilities after the US special prison shuts down on directions from President Obama.
Bakoyiannis did not rule out Greece accepting some of the prisoners, although she did stress that a common EU approach must be hammered out before any firm decisions are reached. Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands "made clear" they do not wish to take any such prisoners, while Britain, claiming it has already admitted nine Gitmo detainees, won't allow any more in, Eleftheros Typos reported.
Later, during a speech delivered at the European Policy Centre, Bakoyiannis emphasized that Greece supports the Turkish EU bid but not "unconditionally." If Turkey wishes to proceed with its EU membership application, it should abide by International Law and meet the requirements of "good neighborly relations," the Greek FM said.
Bakoyiannis also referred to "FYROM"4 and Greece's concern over Skopje's attempt to "monopolize" the use of the name of Macedonia (see the complete speech).
Both the GoG and the Government of Cyprus are "deeply concerned" over recent remarks by a popular Turkish actor that he murdered, on orders from superiors, Greek Cypriot POWs during the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Attila Olgac told a TV chat anchor person he had shot the prisoners while serving with the Turkish invasion army. Olgac recanted his initial claims, reports said, and he has now gone into hiding. But eminent Turkish legal scholars and some columnists now call for Olgac to be prosecuted for war crimes, not to mention "besmirching" Turkey's name worldwide. The Cypriot Government, meantime, has urged Ankara to account, at last, for the 1,500 Greek Cypriot missing in action since 1974 and presumed, by most experts, to have been killed after taken prisoner by Turkish invasion troops.
Finally, Greek CNO Admiral Karamalikis was on a "lightning" visit to the Arabian Sea to spend time aboard the Greek frigate Psara serving as the command vessel of the EU anti-piracy squadron patrolling off Somalia. The EU naval force is doing a fine job, Apogevmatini5 reported, escorting cargo vessels through pirate-infested waters with complete success. Away from Somalia, however, news wasn't all that good for the Greek maritime family as pirates, who boarded a Greek fishing vessel off the coast of Cameroon, killed her Greek captain in cold blood, when he refused to abide by their demands. The only Greek aboard the vessel, the captain was only weeks from retirement.
Communist Party of Greece.
Athens daily friendly to New Democracy.
Mitsotakis's sister and foreign minister at that time.
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Athens daily now defunct.