The Irish Times featured a dedication to Greece’s Papandreou family, a political dynasty that spawned three consecutive generations of prime ministers. The article, titled “Greeks allowing the heart to rule were led down path of austerity”, likens PASOK to Irish republican Fianna Fáil as both were central to Greek and Irish political life respectively.

The article refers to George the first who held power from 1944-1945, 1963 and 1964-1965 as “the saviour of modern Greece, holding togetehr a government of national unity in exile during the second World War.”

According to the article, “memory” for Greece is more painful than for Irish and the fact that George the first was held (and died) under house arrest during the military junta (1967-1974) and that Andreas Papandreou was forced into exile, raised the family into “sainthood”.

On his return, Andreas founded PASOK – “a contract with the people” – that aimed to be a “social transformation” that improved social welfare, brought in equal pay for women and EU membership with agricultural subsidies. PASOK is described as depending almost entirely on “votes-for-favor” and is described as an “Irish TD sorting out his or her constituents’ difficulties by adroit representations.” Hence, Andreas’ leadership (1981-1989 and 1993-1996) was one that lead to budget deficits and false prosperity. “The state sector became over-populated with nepotist sinecures, and tax evasion became the norm,” writes Richard Pine.

PASOK became a victim of its own success as voters became disgusted that the party couldn’t help them through the current economic crisis and held it culpable for allowing the situation to reach crisis proportions.

The article goes on to state that young George inherited the leadership of PASOK almost by “divine right”. George is described as a “reformer” and as being “principled”. His “lacklustre leadership was demonstrated in his tendency to over-consult” and be swayed by external opinions.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE IRISH TIMES CLICK HERE