Political Instability vs. Common Sense: 2:0

The worst enemy of a dilemma is an even greater dilemma. In the second round of the Presidential election by the Greek Parliament, which took place yesterday, the outcome was again negative. This time around votes were short by as many as 12 and it does not seem likely that this Parliament will achieve the required number of positive votes in the upcoming third round next Monday, either. This being said, the FT have already cast their certainty that this will be the case, as they are also predicting that the country will go into Parliamentary elections, as early as next February, if not sooner. In the background of all political events, one cannot help noticing the repeated violations of the Greek Constitution by MPs and the Government alike, and the dimension of the ethical decline in Greece’s public domain has never before been so apparent to the naked eye. Since the beginning of the 90ies, people sensed that this country has been suffering from a tremendous loss of “ethical values”, but today’s political situation and the image of Greece’s political staff have become borderline disgraceful and shameful. This is not the true image of the country, is it? The PM, in a last effort to retain political power in the name of stability and anticipated growth that will come via the termination of political turmoil and speculation about the future of this country, has engaged in a political rhetoric that aims at the creation of a “consciousness” issue for all MPs that will vote against the nomination of the President in this third upcoming round next Monday, blaming essentially all non-voters of being responsible for all catastrophe that will follow. And while painting ghosts all over the walls of today’s social and political life, one could easily argue that the collateral benefit of holding on to political power these days essentially translates into holding on to badly-needed “political immunity” that comes with the holding of a public office. And given the severity and frequency of violations these days, it is more than certain that holding on to power literally translates into holding on to “jail-free” time. If you do not share my thoughts on this one, please refer to the case of Mr. Tsochatzopoulos or to the more recent one of Mr. Papakonstantinou, which just started. In this context, a likely election victory of SYRIZA in the upcoming Parliamentary election should be the least of the PM’s concerns.