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Maria Spassova

Thanos Veremis is e modern Greek history professor in Athens University and right now is also a chairman of the National Education council in Greece. He is an author of many books – “Military men in Greek history,” “Western interference in Yugoslavia,” Modern Greece: History after 1821”. I met him the morning after the elections on October 4. His analytical qualities are deeply valued by foreign correspondents, because we have to wait for each other in order to take an interview.

Professor Veremis how would you evaluate the results from the parliament elections in Greece? Did you expect those results?

I was expecting that PASOK would win. I was expecting that it will form an independent government but I did not expect that they will get such majority and they will get 160 members in the parliament. I believe that even PASOK did not expect this.

How would you explain this majority?

Mainly this was a vote coming from the discontent and disappointment from the rule of New Democracy, which did very few things during its mandate. It was also a discontent vote against Karamanlis himself, who chose average people for his government. Voters do not like this. Of course, PASOK took some things from the leftists – the communist party and the coalition of the radical leftists, who have fewer votes compared to last year. But mainly he took votes from New Democracy. This is very interesting, because many PASOK supporters voted for New Democracy on the previous elections.

Now everybody is expecting to see what the new government will do. The economy is Greece’s main problem, what do you think Papandreou will do first in that regard?

Look, Papandreou’s pre-election message was reallocation – to give money to the poor. I don’t see how he can do that, because the only way to give money is if you do not have debts. Debts are very expensive for Greece right now, because it has high budget deficit. So Papandreou cannot do what he promised. What he can do is what Karamanlis promised – strict financial discipline. This can be done only if his actions are based on simple logic. I see limitations and discipline in the following two years and I hope it will be like that. Because if this does not happen, the following 10 years will be full of discipline and limitations. There is no other choice. Our national debt is very high. It is as high as Italy’s but Italy is an industrial country. Greece is not – we have shipping, which does not does not bring so much money and tourist, which strictly depends on the situation of the EU and the world, which is different each year. In other words if Papandreou does not rely on strict financial discipline, someone else will have to do it but for many more years ahead.

 Regarding the other big problems of the country – the reform in higher education, corruption, tax collection – what do you believe the new government will do?

The answers of these questions depend on who the ministers will be. For example if Ana Diamantopoulou is minister of education, she can do many things, because she knows the problems in the field. During the time of Marieta Yanakou some main changes started in higher education. If those changed also transfer to high school education than this government will do a much better job than the previous one. Corruption. It requires decisiveness. You cannot fight it with words. It should be fought by the authorities. If a special institution for policemen selection is not created, who will deal with corruption, the problem will not disappear by itself. Work is not done with good intentions. The same goes for avoiding taxes. It is an entirely police subject. You put policemen in front of the doctors and lawyers offices and you see whether everybody is getting invoices. If not, those are black money. This is a public secret. Most people in the services field – plumbers, doctors, lawyers – do not issue invoices. Police is needed for this, not words. Will Papandreou find the courage to do this? I don’t know.

What changes will come regarding foreign policy? Do you think the relationship with Skopje will be influenced?

Probably not. Regarding the former Republic of Yugoslavia, the parties have reached a consensus. OK, not all of them. For example, we don’t know what the communist party thinks about that. But the others have agreed that Greece cannot accept the name “Macedonia” to be used by a country. There is Bulgarian Macedonia, there is Greek Macedonia there is also a so-called Slav-Macedonia. But there cannot be a Republic of Macedonia. There can be North Macedonia, New Macedonia. I would like to see direct negotiations between Athens and Skopje but until now Gruevski has not given a sign he is ready for such a thing compared to Tzarvenkovski, who was a lot more flexible.

How will the relationship with Turkey develop?

The relationship with Turkey changes with every other day. Right now everything is calm. Well, from time to time we have some violations of our air space in the Aegean Sea. Erdogan has other goals – he want to take the Muslims out in the open and to put a stop to suppression. He is a man of many abilities and I don’t think Greece interests him that much.

Papandreou is famous for his good relations with the US. In the eyes of some this is an advantage but in others – a disadvantage. What do you believe?