Greece is on a normalised road, prime minister George Papandreou opined in an interview with the UK newspaper Guardian, noting that in the nine months since his PASOK government took office “it has been crisis management, day in, day out”, and stressing that, in politics “you have to make tough decisions”.
In the interview, titled “Reinvigorating Greece is an Olympian task for prime minister Papandreou”, the premier noted: “We knew that we had high debt and a high deficit with high inequality, high unemployment and negative growth … but we had no idea about the depth and breadth of the problems or the lack of good, transparent, democratic governance. When we found the deficit as high as it was [13.6% of GDP], we wanted to be absolutely transparent.”
On the reactions to the austerity measures and major overhaul of the pension system, Papandreou admits that “naturally I feel very bad that we had to take these measures and that our financial sovereignty is under the tutelage of the so-called troika (the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank”.
“It’s not a happy state to be in, and the most painful thing is to take measures against people who were not responsible for the crisis,” Papandreou said.
“But you have to make tough decisions in politics,” he continued, adding: “You can theorise about the options you have but in reality they are very specific. The option was: “Do we default or do we take these measures? Do we lose our pension system or do we save what we can? … it was a question of existence, of being able to pay civil servants their wages or losing that possibility.”
Papandreou described as “a small revolution” the reforms his government has pushed through, adding that his hope is to “turn Greece into maybe the most transparent country in the world, with everything on the web”.
Noting that re-election is not his aim, Papandreou said he is determined to change Greece “and mindsets” for the better through his modernising policies, regardless of the political cost.
“I have always said I will be in politics to serve as best as I can and it will take me wherever it will take me. As long as I feel I am doing what I think is right and just for my country, for the Greek people, that is enough for me,” he said
“Saving Greece from this crisis was the first thing on the agenda. We are now on a much more normalised road,” Papandreou added.
(source ANA-MPA)
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