The show lasted long; Greece has become the ridicule of the world and of the Greeks themselves. All news bulletins on Greek television and radio stations have been mocking and ruthlessly lampooning the political establishment of the country which has failed the Greek people repeatedly during the last ten years. Yet succumbing both to international but more so to domestic pressure, it seems that both major political parties have decided to suspend for several months their bickering and dedicate themselves to the salvation of the nation!
It was about time; society could not stand this comedy of buffoons any more. The domestic market is all but dead, the real economy has a serious problem of hard currency and the social fabric is deeply torn apart, probably forever.
Unfortunately, the Greek political establishment, the Papandreous and the Samaras, have never left their opulent mansions in the aristocratic suburbs of Athens to visit the working class areas of the Greek capital or of other cities and experience first-hand the devastation and the deterioration of the standards of living and of the quality of life. It is not strange, then, that within the last two years, Greece fell from number 27 in the list of prosperous countries of the world to number 72, followed closely by many African countries.
Yet it was only three years ago that the then Prime Minister was declaring that his government had “shielded” Greece from the global financial meltdown and only 12 months ago when the finance minister was declaring on public television with a sardonic smirk on his face “if we have to take new measures, then we have failed”. Well neither shielded was the economy, nor new measures unnecessary.
The political establishment inflicted recently upon the Greek people the greatest humiliation after the German occupation. It is becoming startlingly obvious that the current administrative arrangements do not work and more; they have lost their legitimacy and their reliability. People do not trust politicians any more, something which will be obvious in the elections, which according to all predictions will produce only a minority government.
Consequently the new government together with the implementation of the agreements with Brussels must also reform the political system, completing what Constantine Karamanlis left unfinished in 1975. This government should not be either an interim or a caretaker administration; it must reform constitutionally the Greek state if we want to remain in the European Union and the eurozone as equals and not as institutional beggars.
First, they must give real powers to the President of the Republic, as they were before 1986. Second, they must change the law about the criminal immunity (and impunity) of all members of parliament. Third, they must introduce the proportional representational system leading thus to the politics of consensus and collaboration amongst political parties. Fourth, they must legislate a two-term limit in office on all active politicians; Fifth, implement strict fiscal policies to reduce the public sector, give incentives to private investments and make the economy competitive. Structural changes are needed urgently, which were promised back in 2001 but were never implemented.
The formation of this new government, under Mr Lucas Papademos, fills most Greeks with hope, full of reservations needless to say. Although left wing parties abstained from the whole process, they have now the opportunity to pressure for the change of the electoral system and confront the neo-liberal fantasies about a political system without politics. Mr Papademos’ election indicates the huge failure of the existing political arrangements based on clientelism and party favouritism.
It will operate under a contradiction: people from both parties who have created the problem are now considered able of solving it. Yet it offers a rare opportunity to see if the system can reform itself by instituting practices of active democratisation, through checks and balances that would lead to a healthy, robust and accountable administration. What Greece needs is more democracy which means transparency, accountability and responsibility – it is the birthplace of democracy, it deserves it.