It is probably the first time that such fuss has been made about an EEC country’s assuming the Community’s presidency. The job rotates among all EEC countries every six months, and most of Greece’s European partners apparently see it less as a great honor, and more as a task – in the army sense – of each partner taking its turn in assuming responsibility for the major part of the boring and complex bureaucratic chores which constitute so much of the Community’s day-to-day life.
True, this is the first time that Greece’s turn has come up, but it is not clear why this should be, in itself, cause for celebration. Maybe more instrumental in making a big thing out of nothing were the (mostly silly) objections raised by some EEC partners, and primarily Germany, to Greece’s presidency. Predictably, such tactics, used on people as stubborn as Greeks, only served to make even the staunchest opponents of EEC membership anxious to see the presidency go to its rightful custodians for the second part of 1983.
As soon as Greek national pride (“filotimo”) was satisfied, interest in the whole affair dropped sharply. Much of the credit for this should go to the overconscientious Brussels correspondents of the Athens News Agency (ANA), who kept filing those incredibly long stories describing in loving detail the assumption of the Chair by Greece’s representative in every single one of the Community’s countless committees and subcommittees. This riveting stuff, which essentially repeated itself with only the names of participants changing, was then religiously relayed to an increasingly bored nation.
One of the most touching reports from Brussels involved the assumption of the Chair by the Greek representative in some committee on fishing. The committee was in the midst of a particularly heated session on the so-called herring war (disputes over herring fishing rights in the North Sea) held over from the previous term (Germany’s presidency), and there was a suggestion for the German representative to retain the Chair to the end of the shouting match. The Greek representative, Agriculture Undersecretary P. Katsaros, who has probably never seen a herring exept in a smoked, packaged state, which is the last state any self-respecting herring would want to find itself in, was quick to react to this affront on national dignity and demand that Greece’s rights be restored. Katsaros firmly reminded the rest of the committee of their obligations and responsibilities, and finally managed to wrestle the Chair from under the stubborn German’s rear-end.
Having assumed his rightful position at the head of the table, the new chairman moved swiftly to have the meeting adjourned, in order to give the warring parties time to think things over and reach a compromise – clearly the most sensible thing to do at the time.
The whole affair shows that, whatever the benefits for Greece may be, Europe has perhaps something to learn from laid-back Greek common sense. After all, Prime Minister Papandreou recently spoke against the concept of a “two-speed” Europe. As it would be mighty difficult to make Greeks speed up, especially in the summer, the solution of the problem might lie in using Greece’s increased clout during its presidency to convince those hyperactive northern Europeans to slow down.
Greece’s presidency, it must be said, opened on a most promising note when the Prime Minister, a few days before the formal assumption of the presidency, gave a rousing speech in support of a united Europe, “a Europe belonging to its peoples and not to multinational monopolies.”
The speech, interpreted by most political observers as designed to quell fears by other EEC partners that Greece’s socialist government might try to use the presidency teyindermine the Community, also raised some eyebrows among seasoned political observers who recalled that several years ago, when PASOK was in opposition, current Minister of Agriculture Costas Simitis was summarily kicked out of PASOK’s Executive Bureau for approving a party poster reading: “Yes To The Europe Of Peoples, No To The Europe Of Monopolies.” The times, they are a-changin’, as the great bard said.
By the way, there is no indication that any disciplinary action against Mr. Papandreou is being considered by PASOK’s party machine.
PASOK, however, is a marxist party, subscribing to a dialectical, rather than cartesian, concept of reality. So, at about the same time Papandreou was delivering his pro-European speech, the government’s second-in-command, Minister to the Prime Minister Agamemnon Koutsoyiorgas, was telling rallies at Patras and Aeghion that Greece had been trapped into the EEC by the previous governments and could not extricate itself because leaving the Community would require a referendum, and calling a referendum was the President’s prerogative.
Koutsoyiorgas, one of Papandreou’s closest associates, is thought by some to sometimes function as the Prime Minister’s alter ego, keeping up the spirits of party hardliners with tough statements while Papandreou retains his moderate, fatherly image and asserts the need for a mild political climate.
This time, however, the Minister apparently outstepped his limits, by launching a particularly sharp attack on the previous conservative governments, headed by President Karamanlis.
Although he did not mention Karamanlis by name, there was little doubt as to who the target was, and this forced Papandreou to give his friend a slap on the wrist by stating that “criticizing the policies of President Karamanlis during his tenure as Prime Minister is not part of government policy.”
Karamanlis was not entirely pleased with the outspoken Minister, either. So, on June 28, he delivered a speech in his native northern Greece town of Serres that will be remembered and discussed for months to come. Arguing that he had the right and obligation to defend his government record against those who would denigrate it, the President gave a blatantly political speech, sounding more like an incumbent Prime Minister campaigning for reelection than a politically neutral head of state, which is how the constitution defines the President’s role.
Karamanlis also avoided mentioning Koutsoyiorgas by name, but the implication was again untnistakeable. His speech, combined with Papandreou’s earlier rebuke of Koutsoyiorgas’s statements, led to some wishful thinking in the opposition press that the Minister might share the fate of the ancient King of Argos with the same name.
Fat chance! Old King Agamemnon brought about his own demise by commiting two major political mistakes: He spent too much time away from home and his wife got lonely (John Mitchell, too, did that and got what he deserved); and he failed to keep close tabs on potential enemies at home.
His 20th Century namesake, on the other hand, can be accused of none of these follies. He always tries to stay close to where the action is, and never fails to keep track of what everyone else, including some of his cabinet colleagues, is up to.
As for Karamanlis’s motives in making his controversial speech, they are not hard to guess. The man has been in active partisan politics for almost half a century, and the non-partisan, elder statesman role accorded him by the constitution in his present office must be particularly frustrating. In all likelihood, he took his first chance at a good, old-fashioned political jibe, just for old times’ sake, and is probably grateful to Koutsoyiorgas for providing him with the excuse. If, at the next presidential reception, the two men are seen, far from conspiciously avoiding each other, having some hearty laughs over drinks, only the most naive would be surprised.
V.R.L.
