The bench and the coach
In the five years that the New Democracy party has been in power, its Cabinet has remained virtually the same at least the image and policy of its main nucleus. The responsibilities assigned to Evripidis Stylianidis and Costis Hatzidakis were the exceptions that confirm the rule, or at least were Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’s response to calls for renewal, citing a lack of reserve options. The same principle governed the decision to change the portfolios of Giorgos Voulgarakis or Michalis Liapis, while keeping them at the core of the Cabinet. However, is it really true that there is no one else waiting on the bench? Is that what Aris Spiliotopoulos believed when he said that these are Karamanlis’s ministers and they are the ones he will move ahead with? So it is only natural that they themselves believe they are indispensable; but the voters who sent ND’s 152 deputies to Parliament know there are plenty of serious, honest and hardworking deputies who have been sidelined because they refuse to promote themselves in the media. The country’s recent history shows that great prime ministers such as the late Constantine Karamanlis or Andreas Papandreou made frequent government reshuffles in an attempt to bring new blood into the mix, by making use of young cadres. Constantine Karamanlis had many potential prime ministers in his government but sought out younger cadres, such as Miltiades Evert, Stefanos Manos, Yiannis Palaiokrassas and Stavros Dimas, sending the message that no one was irreplaceable. Andreas Papandreou did likewise. When Giorgos Gennimatas died in 1994, the party barons presumed one of them would take his post at the Economy Ministry. Yet Andreas chose two younger politicians, Yiannos Papantoniou and Alekos Papadopoulos, who did not let him down. So the bench is there; the coach only has to look.
