PM defends tender law
Ahead of this week’s crucial meetings in Brussels on Greece’s controversial new law banning media barons from lucrative state contracts, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Saturday pledged to pursue his keystone anti-corruption policies, while accusing the opposition of seeking to undermine the effort. Speaking to senior officials in his ruling New Democracy party, Karamanlis said he would not let up on his fight against corruption, in which the tender law has been billed as a major success. «While we voted for the constitutional reform [that led to the tender law], together with the main opposition party, we now find ourselves defending it while they undermine it… and abandon their commitments,» he said. «Who are they allying themselves with; what is their intention?» Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who drafted the law passed on January 20, is due in Brussels today for talks with Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, who has urged the Commission to take legal action against Greece on the matter. The College of Commissioners is scheduled to discuss the question tomorrow or on Wednesday.
