by Athanase Papandropoulos
In a discussion made a few years ago, the
Frenchman reporter Jean-Louis Servan Schreiber- author of the book “L’ art du
temps”- told me that politicians do not have the same sense of timing as humans.
He even explained me that their inception of time is not so important to them,
that’ s why they tend to waste it pointlessly as they exactly do with the money they are not entitled to.
Given that, let’s take a closer look on the one
of the most current dramas in our country-except bankruptcy-i.e. the
uncontrollable waste of time and money that has been realized the latest 33
years.
It is true that since 1981 up until today, Greece has received loans of
305 billion euros and technical support of 12 billion euros that in real
mathematics means multiplying the Marshall Plan per 21 times through Western
European territory, after the Second World War.
No wonder why we‘re in such a
crisis! But, this may be only the beginning on a long
route ahead of us.“It’s worth mentioning that the Greek accession
to the European Union (EU) undoubtedly contributed to build strong democratic
institutions, be into the development and reduce the social and economic
inequalities with the rest of Europe.
Also, the Greek entry to euro confirmed
the progress of both our country and society with plenty of benefits that ease
nowadays crisis.
Then, keep in mind that although Greece enters
to EU, there had not been any necessary institutional changes-contrary to other
EU members- especially in the field of
state’ s functionality, local authority, justice, welfare and education.
Noted that, “symptoms” of glasnost or perestroika were never appeared in Greek
political scene as it happened in other EU members of enlargement.
But, after 30 years of Greek incorporation in
the EU, our country did not totally grasp the chance to make radical changes or
make the ground even more stable so as to create a better future for its
citizens.
We could not achieve to gain an in-depth knowledge to our democratic
institutions, create a sustainable law, an effective state of welfare, an
external and competitive economy that can ensure the autonomy and progress for
the following decades.
The abovementioned lack leads us to nowadays crisis whose
symptoms are undoubtedly fiscal ones. However, the reasons focused on our
weakness to change the mentality and structures that dominated during most of
the last decades.
”This extract, dear readers, was made by our ex-
Prime Minister, G.A. Papandreou, on his article in Kathimerini attributed to
30-year Greek membership into the European family.
The key point is G.A.
Papandreou’s political party had governed only the 22 years from the total
number of 30 as he concerns, thus, he only governed the 73% of the real
membership time in the EU up until today.
As for G.A.P, it can be also said
that during these years he was Minister, so these remarks can be considered as
a type of self-criticism which nowadays does not appear any special interest.
This is because our historical integration to the
European Union was not given the appropriate value. The Greek political system
managed the strategic choice led by Konstantinos Karamanlis in a way that both
shows and showed off its poor dimensions.
The fact is that an action of great
importance was adapted in the worst way in the context of short-sighted
domestic political game. According to Professor, Mr. Har. Tsoukas:
“The political
system-especially parties in power- faced the European undertaking with
ambivalence. On the one hand, it was the Europe of essential financial funds
and thus welcomed.
That’s money free of charge! But, on the other hand, the “Europe”
that represented the institutional well-functioning, the rational organized
social state as well as the economic-political liberalism led to many risks for
the political system.
Some of them can be related to clientele networks, relations
full of corruption, strong private interests, party-oriented state, state
paternalism and unbridled populism. Greek
europeanisation threatened the conditions of traditional party’s force
reproducing”.
So, the results make no surprise and the future
remains uncertain. Achievements? We have
just saved time by shifting the collapse of the political changeover.
Alas... Although, even now-which is the most crucial time- our country can find the
exit of the tunnel. Greece has a lot more assets to head out of crisis.
It has
so far an excellent human capital. But the alarming point is to find the
effective and suitable leadership towards crisis.
The green light to step
forward is putting a limit on exiguity, as the Hellenic Management Association
(EEDE) suggests. This is the deadly virus for the country.
But, at the bottom line, how many seriously
understand the abovementioned necessity when they tend to bring back and
re-empower those who led us to the edge of the cliff?
By: N. Peter Kramer
