"Neither poor Africa nor Latin America had such preferential treatment"

The speech by PASOK president George Papandreou to the PG of the party, where several members are expected to ask for the clear declaration of Papandreou's stance on whether he full supports Papademos’ government, lasted about an hour. With his very first words Papandreou raised the dilemma.

He spoke about a war that is aimed to safeguard the rights of citizens, rights that are threatened with extinction. "We have to protect society, which is ignored by conservative Europe." He clarified his own position: it is a big to the establishments in Greece that led to dependence. He also added that rallies in squares are not sufficient to do this.

The PASOK president vehemently attacked Karamanlis’ government, blaming it for enormous responsibilities as to the state of the economy and society.

He said he takes responsibility for the fact that "in our two years we did not do what should have been done in decades," but noted that those two years were the beginning of the solution.

Regarding the loan program and the haircut, he said that "neither poor Africa nor Latin America had such preferential treatment".

Our partners take responsibility of our past with the largest funding program in history and the haircut. It’s up to you, they say, not to create a new debt from now on. No new loans, Papandreou said, is the country's new doctrine.

He rushed to respond to criticism. He wondered if the PASOK PASOK is to blame for all that went wrong. "No" was the answer again, saying that the problem has been the system itself for decades.

We said no to dependence, but had to clash more forcefully. But we did it and we are paying the price, he added to justify the attacks he is receiving.

It was those interests that, having taken their money abroad, are counting on our bankruptcy to buy everything off cheaply. This is our internal enemy, he said.

We must bear the burden of transition. We should not lose the war because the transition is difficult. We were alone during the first memorandum. Those who were against us now agree with us. But let us leave the dealing with party accounts for the elections.

Now is the time of responsibility. The recipe is not right or wrong, it is the only one. And then he referred to the PM, the deputy PM and the Labour minister, giving them praise for the negotiations.

He admitted he was wrong when he thought that no more sacrifices would be needed after the first memorandum. He ascribed responsibility to the decisions of the Franco-German axis.

Default will take Greece out of the euro, he said, but hinted that there will be repercussions on our national issues too, making a reference to our geopolitical region.
 
At this point he made a personal reference: "For two years I bore a cross that was more than I could handle. It cost me. I sacrificed the prime minister’s seat. I was insulted as no other politician has been. They called me a traitor. I ignored it all because I know how to say no to the real enemies. All this will be nothing compared to what the Greeks will go through if we default. And he accused the media of gambling on the pain of the Greeks.

He insisted on his much-debated view that the destruction remained purely theoretical. He added that "the role of those who anticipate crises is ugly, while others who solve them receive a Nobel prize"…

He also responded to the tactics of Antonis Samaras, who tried to appear as the main negotiator. I know the proper way to make the negotiations, he said. He also spoke about the rumors that place him behind the PASOK members who differentiate their positions. Nobody is entitled to speak on my behalf, he said.

And then he got to the point. "I understand the problems of conscience. But I want to have a clear relationship among us. The country wants us to transcend ourselves. We will not accept intra-party separations, and I'm sure everyone will do the right thing, he said, leaving the party discipline issue, requested by many members in order not to split up or even destroy PASOK in the voting for the pre-memorandum, open for his summation