A show of force, not policies
Midway through a government’s four-year term it is natural for a party in opposition not to have to shoulder the burdens of the one in power. But PASOK under George Papandreou appears to be in no hurry to propose solutions to the country’s problems nor to return to power. And this is made painfully clear by the party leader’s sacking of its spokesman for economic affairs, Giorgos Floridis, last Thursday. PASOK not only lost the official in charge of economic policy but also appears to have ditched the economic policy itself. Floridis’s sin was that he explained statements made by Papandreou regarding the «Scandinavian model» for the economy, noting that in Sweden companies are free to dismiss workers but those who are laid off enjoy the benefit of receiving 80 percent of their former salaries for a long period of time. Floridis thus gave pro-government analysts the opportunity to charge that PASOK was proposing mass dismissals and cold-hearted conniving against workers. The Socialist Papandreou’s beloved «Scandinavian model,» in other words, was presented by conservatives as an excuse for widespread heartbreak. This negative publicity then provided the opportunity for various PASOK officials to criticize Floridis, leading to the party leader’s demand that he resign. All of this is natural, part of the game of politics and not something that would occupy us were it not also the symptom of a most serious ailment affecting our political and social life. Our leaders are incapable of proposing anything that might not conform with the primary myth of our public life, that permanent and well-paid employment for all is possible, as long as the government wants this. And when even the opposition shirks from confronting the political cost of new proposals, then there is little hope that problems will be solved. Sadly, the Floridis caper illustrates just such an instance. In his modernizing quest after PASOK’s fall from power in 2004, George Papandreou embraced what he knew best from the time his family lived abroad – the social and economic model adopted in Scandinavia. Then, despite the good wishes of all those who are not blinded by their political party affiliations, many smirked that Greece was not Scandinavia and that Papandreou would do well not to be carried away by the desire to be involved in politics somewhere other than Greece. Now, at the first serious difficulty, Papandreou has shown that he knows very well where he is. He chose to sack a senior party official from his post instead of taking the opportunity to persuade voters that the party is seriously considering various ways of encouraging companies to hire more people. One of these ways, PASOK could argue, entails greater freedom in laying off workers while the state undertakes the greater protection of the sacked employees’ income. PASOK could have declared bravely that if we want to combat unemployment we have to find ways to break the taboos of the Greek market and that, therefore, the «Swedish model» was worth considering. Instead of all this, PASOK chose not to propose anything at all. And the government, which has not dazzled anyone with its own efforts to increase employment and save the health and pension system, made an obvious show of enjoying PASOK’s woes (just as PASOK, of course, makes the most of every government setback). The dynamic way in which French students and unions have protested against their government’s efforts to make the dismissal of young employees easier (also in the hope of spurring greater employment) has created a climate of fecklessness among European governments and opposition parties – a lack of will that will continue until we see where the ball will stop on the French roulette wheel. But whatever happens in France or any other country, Greece’s problems will remain unsolved as long as our political leaders appear incapable of taking risks that would benefit the country. By avoiding things that are unpleasant and perhaps costly to them, they are clearly placing their own interests above those of the rest of us. And instead of changing what is bad, they are themselves modified by it.
