Ippokratous, Papademos and his “kamikazes”

With his handling of the case of Venizelos’ replacement, Papademos responded to those who believe that he will form a party or agree to participate as a minister in a future government. 

He refused to take on the Finance ministry in order to make clear that the only position that interests him is the PM’s, with the possible exception of President of the Republic. He believes it is his prerogative after his successful passage through Maximos Mansion. His colleagues say to their guests that they are the ones who saved the country from default. "We would have been expelled had he not attended the decisive Eurogroup», they say, dropping innuendos against Venizelos.

But if then, as deputy prime minister and finance minister, Venizelos had a reason to be unhappy, now as a president of PASOK he has two, as it is known that he preferred Papademos as his replacement. But the PM did not want another capacity next to his name. Ippokratous is also troubled by the leakage from Maximos Mansion that Papademos is ready to continue as prime minister after the elections. "If he wants to be prime minister, let him take part in the elections," they say. Venizelos considers that he himself has been the crucial person in the last 2 months.

PASOK's new president considers the attitudes that politics are in need of a Papademos to be dangerous. In private discussions, he emphasizes that parties do not need an umpire between them and that Papademos’ choice was the culmination of a series of failed tactics by Papandreou that brought the country on the edge. Also, he states that they must all work together to prevent such a recurrence, not to avoid having a technocrat as prime minister again, but for the country not to find itself in such a difficult position. In terms of labor division in the last 6 months, Venizelos sees his involvement and the role of the Finance ministry as the most crucial. Instead, Papademos seems to believe that his decisions created a new culture in the Greek government and formed a team that is ready to continue governing. He considers that it should continue as it is risky to change people. "If politicians assign politicians, the whole thing will collapse and we will default in a few months," says a close associate of the PM’s via Proto Thema.

Papademos does not hide from people he trusts that he received a mess. It seems he found hundreds of consultants who had undefined tasks and this is why he began staffing the office from scratch. And if he kept on the senior ones, he simply did so to avoid any problems with Papandreou. The 6 months he will apparently spend as president of the government gave him the opportunity to learn and create a task force, which he deems to be unrivaled.

So far Papademos has pushed aside the demands of the Greek media for interviews. This situation will change, however, as he believes that he must face the public. An initial idea is to give interviews to 4 major Greek newspapers, but may also add one or two television appearances. Of course, it is not only the communication need he wants to cover, but also the obligation to those who helped his venture and will perhaps stand by him in the future as well.