Corrupt Greek Pols
Back in the good old days of 2,500 years ago, the Greeks blamed the gods for their self-induced disasters. In modern times the Brits were to blame, and then the Americans. Now it’s the Germans.
We brag about inventing democracy – however selective – and also about inventing tragedy, but don’t dwell at all on another word we invented: demagoguery.
Demagoguery is what brought Alexis Tsipras and his motley crew of corner-café pseudo-philosophers to power, and demagoguery continues to dominate Greek political discussions even today as we vote for or against the euro.
But let’s not forget comedy, yet another Greek invention.
Today’s referendum is truly Greek, a tragi-comedy of errors, a yes or no question drafted in cryptic, technocratic gobbledegook, worthy of the best Brussels newspeak.
But let’s start at the beginning.
The Greek ship of state was cruising on choppy waters under a benign monarchy headed by the 27-year-old King Constantine back in 1967. On April 21, a military coup took place, one that the king was forced to accept in order to avoid bloodshed. After six months the king attempted a counter-coup to restore democracy but he failed, choosing exile instead. The colonels collapsed in the summer of 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern part of Cyprus. Democracy was restored, and the king was rejected in a plebiscite reminiscent of the kind perfected by South American strongmen. Thus begins Greece’s latest democratic period.
Two men then dominated: Constantine Karamanlis and Andreas Papandreou. Both men started their own political parties, New Democracy for the former, PASOK for the latter. Karamanlis was centre-right; Papandreou centre-left. Both got very rich in office and both corrupted the patronage system to the maximum.
Then Karamanlis, a man I knew very well, had a brilliant idea. He proposed to the powers of the EEC, as it was then called, to allow Greece to join the then six nations, thus ensuring no ambitious colonel would try to grab power by force of arms. The EEC welcomed us with open arms. European money began to flow into a poor country whose main exports were olives and fruit, and whose economy was based on tourism and shipping.
In 1981, the established EU Greek nation decided to swing left. Papandreou came into office and a real Greek upheaval took place.
Papandreou established a core constituency of voters by enriching them for life. The trick was an easy one. Close to 25 per cent of Greeks were employed by the state, with pensions worthy of far, far richer nations, and leaders of civil unions enjoyed double or triple pensions for retiring at the age of 50. With 25 per cent of the electorate in his pocket for life, Papandreou then proceeded to nationalise industries, milk the EU treasury, and flirt with Middle East dictators.
He became very rich, and even divorced his American wife for a very generously endowed airline hostess he met while flying to an EU meeting – she went by the nickname Mimi Big T**s.
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