nick venedi

Saturday 18 June 2011

Greece. Reluctant government

The approach made to the opposition leader during the week to form a government of national unity has failed so PM Papandreou moved swiftly by changing his own the government guard. Evangellos Venizellos, constant critic of the PM has reluctantly agreed to serve in the position of Minister for the economy a job that no one would have wanted under the circumstances. He agreed this move on condition that he will also become vice President of the party. The entire government has now been changed with my favorite, Droutsas, moving to bcome a Euro MP and no longer the foreign Minister (shame..)

The markets have seen these changes as a sign that the PASOK government (Socialist) will go ahead with stage 2 of the measures that will mean a further attack on working people, the privatisation of most that moves and the huge reduction in the public sector plus a further attack on the value of pensions.

The two traditional allies of Greece, France and Germany, welcomed the move. The British government, as always, remains in the background with very little or no active involvement.

In the meantime the extensive protests that have been seen on the streets of major cities in Greece over the last 22 days will be continuing with the TUs promising more protests.

2 comments:

  1. Hello my friend,
    It all started going wrong for Hellas since independece in 1827 and I agreed with what you said at a meeting I was with you a year ago. The Hellenes should have rejected the decision made by the then powers to impose a monarch who was not descented from the Paleologos family. They were the last dynasty of Hellenic Byzantium and after 1453 they fled to Italy where some were married and mixed with the sons and daughters of the Gonzaga of Mantua and other principalities so the line was there. They are more established than many other 'royal houses' yet the powers didn't want this because it would have recognised modern Hellas as an extension of Byzantium which is of course what Hellas is today. Lets embrace reality and celebrate our Byzantine roots we might then find a solution to our current problems.
    You filos

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  2. Ha ha

    Not sure I know who you are but thanks for the comment. I also keep saying that the Greeks need to stop blaming others and take on responsibility for sorting the modern state out. And yes modern Greece was created in 1827 and manipulated by the then 3 european powers. Not sure it matters which royal line they imposed as they are all related with each other, the daughter of one of the last Paleologos was married to Ivan iii of Russia and many of their other sons and daughters to the Dukes of Bavaria and Prussia so if I was bothered about bloodlines (which am not) I would think that all European royals are directly descendent from the Byzantines, so the current argument would be reversed and it would be Greeks that established royal lines not the other way around. Its like stats you can make stats tell you what you want? Fantacy land here we come!! lol

    Best thing for us to do is to deal with the current crisis which must include improving tax collection methods, a government of national unity could help... but we have friends France is a good friend and Germany is doing well, no point looking at how British double diplomacy dooes, they are the way they are..
    Cheers

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