There was an amusing sketch in the Economist last month just before the Maastricht summit. It showed a sort of conga-line of premiers led by ample Chancellor Kohl and the rear brought up by a grimacing Mr Mitsotakis. The final paragraph of the accompanying text, appropriately devoted to Greece, opened, “Last and certainly least…”
“I despise the Greek state but I adore Hellenism” – Ion Dragoumis
One evening last month Premier Mitsotakis, the implacable Sheriff of Greece, had the nerve to sit down in front of a pretty painting by Volanakis and for two hours harangue three TV journalists (and a national-wide audience) on all the things that are going wrong in this country. It was an impressive list.
Its kiosks are the best-stocked in the world, its souvlaki stands are without parallel, its
So far as such things can be known, the failed coup against President Gorbachev was hatched before the official visit of Mr Mitsotakis to the Soviet Union accompanied by the family members with which he is so abundantly blest.
Addressing a special session of the Academy of Athens held on the tenth anniversary of Greece’s accession to the European Community, senior economist Anghelos Anghelopoulos made a direct appeal to President Karamanlis who was sitting there in front row, centre. He had just been made an honorary member of the Academy.
Last month’s World Environment Day was dedicated to confronting the problems created by changes in the world’s climate. Athens, ten days later, became a living example of this confrontation.
The opening words of the Odyssey, as rendered by Vladimir Nabokov, remind us that the purpose of an epic above all is to recall heroic acts.
The country recently has received some adverse publicity in the international press, for allegedly abiding by the rules, the manners or the aims of the European Community.
Addressing a special session of the Academy of Athens held on the tenth anniversary of Greece’s accession to the European Community, senior economist Anghelos Anghelopoulos made a direct appeal to President Karamanlis who was sitting there in front row, centre. He had just been made an honorary member of the Academy.
